Berlin Wall’s fall stokes memories of lost hopes in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — When Berlin Wall fell, Soviet Union stepped back, letting East Germany’s communist government collapse and n quickly accepting German unification. Russian President Vlimir Putin w blames Soviet leership for naivety that paved way for NATO’s expansion eastward.

Many in Russia share that view, seeing collapse of Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany as a moment when Moscow reached out to West hoping to forge a new era of partnership but was cheated by Western powers. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev encourd Communist leers in Central and Eastern Europe to follow his le in launching liberal reforms and took action to shore up ir regimes when y started to crumble under pressure of pro-democracy forces. During 1989, reformers took power across Soviet bloc countries, ending more than four deces of Communist rule.

swiftness of change took Gorbachev himself by surprise. ex-Soviet leer said in a recent interview, ahe of 30th anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall on v. 9, that he welcomed democratic changes in East Germany and or Soviet bloc countries but didn’t foresee Berlin Wall to come down that quickly. “t only us, but our Western partners didn’t expect that pace of history would be so fast,” Gorbachev told newspaper Izvestia.

morning after Berlin Wall’s collapse, Gorbachev called a session of Communist Party’s ruling Politburo to discuss a Soviet response. “ Politburo unanimously decided that use of force must be absolutely ruled out. Some were certainly er to ‘restore order’ with tanks, but y kept mum n,” he said in interview. Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked as Gorbachev’s interpreter at time, said that “any or decision could have h extremely serious, grave consequences, could have been beginning of a disaster.”

Soviet Union h more than 300,000 troops and more than 12,000 tanks and or armored vehicles in East Germany. “Practically y could have closed entire border with ir tanks, but y stayed in ir barracks,” said Vlislav Zubok, an expert on Soviet history with London School of Ecomics. “It was clear to Soviet leership that it was impossible to put paste back into tube. A new era started.” Nikolai Andreyev, who was a Soviet army colonel in East Germany, said he was relieved to see that Soviet leership didn’t try to reclaim control by forceful means. “I was happy that it all happened peacefully, without a military conflict, without any shooting and bloodshed,” he said.

Soviet Union itself was going through a tumultuous period of change. Liberal reformers in newly elected Soviet parliament pushed for ending Communist Party’s mopoly on power and pro-independence movements quickly gained lever in Soviet republics. Soviet media, transformed by Gorbachev’s policy of openness, freely reported on Berlin Wall’s collapse. “I was sure that our military units wouldn’t take any rical action. Gorbachev’s policy warranted that,” said Vyacheslav Mostovoi, who covered wall’s fall for Soviet state television.

Following wall’s collapse, Gorbachev agreed to fast-track talks on unification of Germany and, to much Western surprise, easily accepted its membership in NATO. He told Izvestia that it “removed a source of tension in center of Europe” and helped rically improve relations with Germany. But many in Russia continue to hold Gorbachev responsible for betraying Soviet ally East Germany and foregoing Moscow’s vital interests in talks with Western powers. y include Putin, who charged that Soviet leer naively trusted Western promises that NATO wouldn’t seek to incorporate Soviet bloc countries inste of getting a written pledge.

“Gorbachev me a mistake,” Putin said. “It’s necessary to document things in politics. And he just talked about it and thought that it was done.” Gorbachev countered that it would have been absurd to ask West for written guarantees that Warsaw Pact members wouldn’t join NATO because it would have amounted to declaring Soviet-led military alliance de even before it formally ceased to exist in July 1991.

For Putin, however, Gorbachev’s German policy was a show of unforgivable weakness that left a deep personal mark. A month after wall’s collapse, Putin, a KGB lieutenant colonel posted to Dresden, East Germany, was left to face demonstrators who tried to break into KGB’s hequarters re after Soviet military igred his desperate plea to protect building. He eventually mand to turn crowd back without violence.

As Kremlin was negotiating German reunification, Soviet Union began to unravel amid a massive ecomic crisis and political turmoil. country’s hard currency reserves depleted and Kremlin was struggling to pay its bills, leaving Gorbachev and his government in a weak negotiating position. “ Soviet Union was in crisis and couldn’t negotiate from position of equality with West,” Zubok said.

country’s ecomic woes continued after 1991 Soviet breakup, leaving Russia heavily dependent on Western financial aid throughout 1990s. Some of elite Soviet troops hastily pulled back from Germany often were lacking basic infrastructure and h to stay in tents. Germany helped finance pullout, but many in Russia saw aid as insufficient. In years that followed, Kremlin could do little to oppose enlargement of NATO that embraced Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic in 1999 and incorporated or former Soviet bloc nations and three ex-Soviet republics in Baltics in following years.

NATO’s expansion eastward was widely seen in Russia as a proof of its hostile intentions, helping foment anti-Western sentiments. “ mistrust toward West, toward potential partners on or side, is still re,” said Konstantin Kosachev, Kremlin-connected he of foreign affairs committee in Russian parliament’s upper house. He argued that West, er to claim victory in Cold War, squandered a chance to build a safer world.

“In a certain sense, this dam is somehow irreversible,” Kosachev said. “ Soviet Union and n Russia did make its own choice to stop confrontation with West and start cooperation. It could have been a win-win situation, but for that Western countries should have been much wiser, much more generous.”