Gorbachev urges political solution for Chechnya

To end a decade-long insurgency, Russia should grant breakaway Chechnya special status, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said, arguing that some countries want Moscow to stay bogged down in the “Chechen quagmire".

Gorbachev, a Nobel Peace prize winner who paved the way for the downfall of communism and the break-up of the Soviet Union, also said there was an important lesson from the US-led invasion of Iraq: Don’t act unilaterally.