EU Leader To Putin: Soviet Union's Collapse 'Was A Blessing,' Not A Catastrophe

European Council President Donald Tusk has said that "the collapse of the Soviet Union was a blessing" for Central and Eastern Europe. Speaking on July 11 at an international conference in the Georgian city of Batumi, Tusk was referring to a frequently quoted statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Russian parliament in April 2005 that "the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century."