INTERVIEW
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, former Russian diplomat Vladimir Fyodorovsky, followed closely. This close to Mikhail Gorbachev explains the micro Europe 1, the Kremlin, we were already talking about the fall of the wall in the spring of 1989. And that there were two opposing sides.
"From the beginning of the year, the KGB sends dispatches saying that if it continues like this, it is the end of the GDR, the end of the USSR, the end of the Warsaw Pact," says Vladimir Fedorovsky. "It was written in black and white and there were two camps: on one side, the KGB and the army, and on the other side, my friends, the number 2 of the Iakovlev regime and Shevardnadze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The discussions were very tough, two against two, and Gorbachev was the referee, "recalls the former diplomat.
"The West was very reluctant and the KGB used that"
At the time, the KGB planned to involve hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers in the GDR and that eventually there would be 1,000 deaths. "The dirty work had to be done mostly, according to the KGB, by people from the GDR, but remember that the Russians had almost 500,000 men there," recalls Vladimir Fedorovsky.
"The West was very reluctant, Mitterrand was not asking for the reunification of Germany, Thatcher was sending the news to Gorbachev, they were worried and the KGB was using it," he notes.
He says: "My friend Yakovlev had a brilliant idea, he calls Raisa Gorbachev [Mikhail Gorbachev's wife]." Gorbachev returns home, he was late, but in time for dinner, and she briefed him. Iakovlev said 'if we intervene, we are hostages of the KGB and the army, it is the end of perestroika' and Raissa continued on the pillow.The next day, Gorbachev comes back No intervention ".
"Gorbachev put the points on the i's and asked, 'how much?' "
Iazov, the defense minister, and Kriuchkov, the boss of the KGB, have lost. In June 1989, Gorbachev went to Bonn and, quite simply, sold the GDR to Helmut Khol: "It was a well-watered dinner during Gorbachev's official visit to Bonn in June, and Gorbachev, - it's like Sarkozy, he can not stand alcohol - while Khol has already drunk his two bottles of wine, "says the writer.
"Khol goes out - he tuked Gorbachev - and said: 'Mikhail, you know, reunification is like the Rhine, it's a river and we can not stop it.'" At that moment, he stop speaking and he utters a fateful sentence: 'and in addition we are ready to pay' There was a long silence for a minute and Gorbachev put the dots on the i's and asked 'how much?'. , reunification has come. "