Gorbachev's former employee recounts: That was the end of the Soviet era

- This was a time of freedom but also of total chaos, many of society's functions broke down.

The shelves were empty in the grocery stores, unemployment was rampant, lawlessness was spreading.

In the eyes of the Russian people, it was Gorbachev who was to blame for all this.

It was he who allowed the Soviet Union to collapse, says Elin Jönsson.

But Gorbachev actually had a completely different idea about how the Soviet Union should be reformed, an idea that never came to fruition.

- He wanted the country to build a model that was attractive and in that way bring the Ukrainians, Moldovans and other people in the former Soviet states, not like today when it happens by force.

At the same time, Gorbachev misjudged the longing for independence that existed in the republics, Elin Jönsson believes.

- He was a Soviet person and assumed that everyone was like him.

He was a communist and he believed in the empire but had a dream that it would be possible to modernize the system.