A small group of lawmakers have asked Russia's top prosecutor to investigate whether Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev should face treason charges for his role in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, dismissed the request as an act of publicity-seeking and said the charges were baseless.
This follows a surge of patriotism since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month, which has revived nostalgia among some Russians for the Soviet Union and boosted President Vladimir Putin's popularity ratings.
The seven-page request for an investigation says Gorbachev and other senior Soviet officials violated the law and the will of the people by letting the republics that made up the Soviet Union declare independence and break away.
"As a result of these criminal actions, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a global superpower, was destroyed and ceased existing as a geopolitical reality," the letter states.
Signed by five lawmakers, including two members of the United Russia party loyal to Putin, it was sent to Russian prosecutor-general Yuri Chaika on Wednesday.
The prosecutor-general's office declined comment but said it generally takes up to 10 days to decide whether to start an investigation.
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