1 00:00:00,976 --> 00:00:03,559 (upbeat music) 2 00:00:20,529 --> 00:00:22,260 (crowd cheering) 3 00:00:22,260 --> 00:00:24,250 November, 1989, 4 00:00:24,250 --> 00:00:26,350 an unexpected acceleration of history 5 00:00:26,350 --> 00:00:29,933 has caused the already cracking Soviet block to fall apart. 6 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,400 The crowds of Berliners crossing the wall 7 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:35,880 between the two German states 8 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,595 will forever symbolize this event. 9 00:00:38,595 --> 00:00:41,740 (crowd cheering) 10 00:00:41,740 --> 00:00:44,110 Who could imagine that less than two years later, 11 00:00:44,110 --> 00:00:46,310 citizens them again, 12 00:00:46,310 --> 00:00:48,090 would bring down the statues of Lenin 13 00:00:48,090 --> 00:00:50,153 and the very birthplace of communism. 14 00:00:51,050 --> 00:00:53,010 This other symbol is forever attached 15 00:00:53,010 --> 00:00:55,073 to the disintegration of the USSR. 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,720 Between those two dates, a string of events happened, 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,733 which some thought unpredictable and others inescapable. 18 00:01:05,397 --> 00:01:07,814 (soft music) 19 00:01:21,610 --> 00:01:25,240 The first event in this series took place 2,500 miles 20 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,950 from Moscow on two ships, battered by a storm 21 00:01:27,950 --> 00:01:30,407 in the Mediterranean off the coast of Malta. 22 00:01:30,407 --> 00:01:33,074 (upbeat music) 23 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,500 It was the first meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev, 24 00:01:37,500 --> 00:01:39,390 General Secretary of the Communist Party 25 00:01:39,390 --> 00:01:41,430 of the Soviet Union and George Bush, 26 00:01:41,430 --> 00:01:44,093 the newly elected president of the United States. 27 00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:49,280 It was very funny because it was a big storm 28 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,980 and they couldn't get these ships to meet each other. 29 00:01:51,980 --> 00:01:54,560 And Bush got seasick and Gorbachev got seasick, 30 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,420 and everybody was sick. 31 00:01:56,420 --> 00:01:58,260 The two men sailing towards each other 32 00:01:58,260 --> 00:01:59,540 on that tumultuous sea, 33 00:01:59,540 --> 00:02:02,803 were the leaders of the world's two mightiest superpowers, 34 00:02:03,750 --> 00:02:05,460 George Bush, who had been president 35 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:07,560 of the United States for less than a year, 36 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,700 had succeeded Ronald Reagan, 37 00:02:09,700 --> 00:02:13,360 the man who referred to the Soviet Union as the evil empire 38 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:14,960 and brought the nuclear confrontation 39 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,145 with the Soviet block to a climax. 40 00:02:17,145 --> 00:02:19,728 (upbeat music) 41 00:02:20,890 --> 00:02:23,833 Would Bush continue the politics of his predecessor? 42 00:02:27,310 --> 00:02:29,660 Mikhail Gorbachev had been secretary general 43 00:02:29,660 --> 00:02:34,510 of the CPSU since 1985, he was then 54 years old. 44 00:02:34,510 --> 00:02:37,580 He introduced a younger spirit into the party leadership 45 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:39,563 and started radical reforms. 46 00:02:41,780 --> 00:02:44,130 In foreign affairs, he lifted the iron curtain, 47 00:02:44,130 --> 00:02:46,380 allowing satellite countries of the USSR, 48 00:02:46,380 --> 00:02:48,820 such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia 49 00:02:48,820 --> 00:02:51,393 to regain a hold on their national destinies. 50 00:02:54,270 --> 00:02:55,520 On the domestic front, 51 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,480 he began to democratize the country 52 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,100 launching two revolutionary catch words, 53 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:02,303 Glasnost and Perestroika. 54 00:03:04,930 --> 00:03:07,540 Glasnost, meaning freedom of speech, 55 00:03:07,540 --> 00:03:09,780 Perestroika, meaning restructuring 56 00:03:09,780 --> 00:03:12,353 of the political economic and social system. 57 00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:16,460 People ask, what is Perestroika? 58 00:03:16,460 --> 00:03:18,860 Well, it's doing your work earnestly. 59 00:03:18,860 --> 00:03:21,310 That's what Perestroika is about. 60 00:03:21,310 --> 00:03:24,390 It's helping others, it's feeding the shoulders of others. 61 00:03:24,390 --> 00:03:25,826 That's a socialism. 62 00:03:25,826 --> 00:03:29,060 (crowd cheering) 63 00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:32,433 As soon as Gorbachev said, now you can speak out. 64 00:03:33,290 --> 00:03:34,930 It was the end. 65 00:03:34,930 --> 00:03:36,750 After that, there was no way 66 00:03:36,750 --> 00:03:38,693 of stopping anything or going back. 67 00:03:39,660 --> 00:03:42,333 It was too late, everything flowed from that moment. 68 00:03:44,150 --> 00:03:48,170 By 1989, however, the outcome was unconvincing. 69 00:03:48,170 --> 00:03:51,040 Although Soviet society was starting to breathe. 70 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,360 Although press censorship had been abolished, 71 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,410 individual liberties were more respected 72 00:03:55,410 --> 00:03:58,490 and arbitrary internments had disappeared, 73 00:03:58,490 --> 00:04:01,733 the daily life of Russians was deteriorating. 74 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,483 That was when the Malta Summit took place. 75 00:04:09,870 --> 00:04:12,500 Gorbachev arrived at this Malta meeting 76 00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:15,363 in an extremely weakened position. 77 00:04:17,900 --> 00:04:19,590 He had one crucial goal 78 00:04:19,590 --> 00:04:22,900 to obtain from the Americans, the end of nuclear escalation. 79 00:04:22,900 --> 00:04:26,770 For moral reasons, of course, but also for economic ones. 80 00:04:26,770 --> 00:04:29,840 The drastic reduction of military expenses in his country 81 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:32,360 would help him finance his famous Perestroika 82 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,493 and raise the living standards of his people. 83 00:04:35,493 --> 00:04:38,743 (intense upbeat music) 84 00:04:40,278 --> 00:04:41,720 Not only the European countries, 85 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,810 but the whole world was mired in this cold war. 86 00:04:44,810 --> 00:04:48,390 You have to realize that the USSR and the United States 87 00:04:48,390 --> 00:04:50,640 have engulfed dozens of billions of dollars 88 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:51,803 in the arms race. 89 00:04:54,410 --> 00:04:57,360 Just imagine what could have been done with all this money. 90 00:04:58,810 --> 00:05:00,343 During the months before the summit 91 00:05:00,343 --> 00:05:03,930 that the Bush administration was divided down the middle. 92 00:05:03,930 --> 00:05:07,120 So President Bush, (laughs) 93 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,190 and this is where I played a small role, 94 00:05:10,580 --> 00:05:15,580 brought his whole commander, everybody to Camp David, 95 00:05:15,620 --> 00:05:18,023 that's the presidential vacation home. 96 00:05:19,260 --> 00:05:24,260 And invited to speak to his whole commander, two people, 97 00:05:26,130 --> 00:05:28,980 representing different American academic views 98 00:05:28,980 --> 00:05:29,813 of Gorbachev. 99 00:05:31,460 --> 00:05:33,480 Professor Richard Pipes of Harvard 100 00:05:36,470 --> 00:05:37,790 who didn't trust, Gorbachev, 101 00:05:37,790 --> 00:05:39,430 didn't believe in Gorbachev, 102 00:05:39,430 --> 00:05:44,430 thought the whole Perestroika was a trick. 103 00:05:45,170 --> 00:05:48,680 And Stephen Cohen at Princeton. 104 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,470 Cohen in '89 with a well-known view 105 00:05:51,470 --> 00:05:54,080 that Gorbachev represented for the United States, 106 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,620 a historic opportunity to end the war. 107 00:05:57,620 --> 00:05:59,490 And after Pipe spoken and I spoke, 108 00:05:59,490 --> 00:06:01,090 they asked us questions. 109 00:06:01,090 --> 00:06:02,540 And it was clear to me immediately 110 00:06:02,540 --> 00:06:05,010 that the president had made up his mind, 111 00:06:05,010 --> 00:06:06,510 that he was going to end the cold war 112 00:06:06,510 --> 00:06:10,023 with Gorbachev at Malta on those ships. 113 00:06:11,660 --> 00:06:13,930 Bush spoke this famous sentence. 114 00:06:13,930 --> 00:06:16,680 The USSR is no longer our enemy. 115 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,770 We need to get rid of the view of one another as enemies, 116 00:06:19,770 --> 00:06:23,010 I in turn said the same thing, we shook hands. 117 00:06:23,010 --> 00:06:25,460 So this gesture and this common speech 118 00:06:25,460 --> 00:06:27,640 symbolize the end of the cold war. 119 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:29,543 It was to us all a great achievement. 120 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,170 The question immediately came to our minds, 121 00:06:33,170 --> 00:06:35,493 how should we act to this new environment? 122 00:06:36,660 --> 00:06:38,073 It was difficult to answer. 123 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:43,160 It was in this new political context 124 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,210 that Mikhail Gorbachev went to Vilnius in Lithuania 125 00:06:46,210 --> 00:06:47,870 where thousands of protestors 126 00:06:47,870 --> 00:06:50,143 demanded the country's independence. 127 00:06:52,340 --> 00:06:55,580 He went with his wife Raisa to assess the situation, 128 00:06:55,580 --> 00:06:57,570 which was becoming dangerous, 129 00:06:57,570 --> 00:07:01,253 because Lithuania was an integral part of the Soviet union. 130 00:07:02,330 --> 00:07:06,140 Like the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia, 131 00:07:06,140 --> 00:07:08,770 it was annexed by the USSR in 1940. 132 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,740 When Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev came here, 133 00:07:15,740 --> 00:07:17,473 I accompanied him everywhere, 134 00:07:18,590 --> 00:07:20,090 to the streets, on the squares 135 00:07:21,130 --> 00:07:22,880 and to meet with the intellectuals. 136 00:07:25,690 --> 00:07:28,650 Every time he would ask the same question, 137 00:07:28,650 --> 00:07:31,760 do you really want to leave the Soviet union? 138 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,123 And he would get the same unanimous, yes. 139 00:07:35,300 --> 00:07:37,100 What else could they answer but yes? 140 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:39,933 It was self-evident. 141 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:44,780 Back in Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev 142 00:07:44,780 --> 00:07:46,550 drew another conclusion from his trip 143 00:07:46,550 --> 00:07:47,983 for his party colleagues. 144 00:07:50,750 --> 00:07:54,600 When Gorbachev came back from Vilnius, 145 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,003 he addressed the Politburo with enthusiasm. 146 00:07:58,340 --> 00:08:01,363 He said, everything is okay. 147 00:08:02,260 --> 00:08:04,210 They want to remain with the Russians 148 00:08:04,210 --> 00:08:07,770 and belong to the Soviet union, there is no problem. 149 00:08:07,770 --> 00:08:09,560 However, two months later, 150 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,823 Lithuania declared its independence unilaterally. 151 00:08:16,390 --> 00:08:18,810 For the first time in the history of the USSR, 152 00:08:18,810 --> 00:08:21,163 one of its republics was breaking away. 153 00:08:22,170 --> 00:08:24,310 It was a serious matter because it was likely 154 00:08:24,310 --> 00:08:25,920 to be contagious. 155 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,130 Mikhail Gorbachev played for time, 156 00:08:28,130 --> 00:08:31,083 sticking to the rules he set himself when he came to power. 157 00:08:31,970 --> 00:08:35,330 (crowd chanting) 158 00:08:35,330 --> 00:08:37,963 What matters for Gorbachev, 159 00:08:38,914 --> 00:08:43,050 which is to me proof of his exceptional skills, 160 00:08:43,050 --> 00:08:46,210 was his attachment to some moral principles. 161 00:08:46,210 --> 00:08:50,220 His aversion of the use of force, his training. 162 00:08:50,220 --> 00:08:52,300 Being trained as a lawyer, 163 00:08:52,300 --> 00:08:55,123 he held the primacy of the law in high regard. 164 00:08:58,581 --> 00:09:02,290 I solemnly swear to serve the peoples of our country, 165 00:09:02,290 --> 00:09:05,490 to act strictly according to the constitution. 166 00:09:05,490 --> 00:09:07,750 In order to continue his reforms legally, 167 00:09:07,750 --> 00:09:10,770 Gorbachev had himself elected president of the USSR 168 00:09:10,770 --> 00:09:13,710 by the Congress of the People's deputies. 169 00:09:13,710 --> 00:09:16,610 In the same stride, he abolished the political monopoly 170 00:09:16,610 --> 00:09:18,250 of the communist party, 171 00:09:18,250 --> 00:09:21,413 introducing a multi-party system into the Soviet Union. 172 00:09:23,650 --> 00:09:26,240 Everything had to be radically reformed. 173 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:27,240 I was aware of that. 174 00:09:29,730 --> 00:09:32,423 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev thought so too, 175 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:36,840 but he was more in favor 176 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,393 of making improvements and amendments. 177 00:09:42,610 --> 00:09:45,123 He used to tell me, "Watch out Alexander, 178 00:09:46,617 --> 00:09:48,627 "this party is such a monster, 179 00:09:48,627 --> 00:09:51,017 "you may lose control over it in no time." 180 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,250 This system was at the end of its tether. 181 00:09:59,250 --> 00:10:01,020 It was outdated. 182 00:10:01,020 --> 00:10:03,360 This was obvious from the fact that it led 183 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:04,963 an authoritarian policy. 184 00:10:05,850 --> 00:10:09,130 The communist party and the administrative apparatus 185 00:10:09,130 --> 00:10:10,973 exerted absolute control. 186 00:10:12,530 --> 00:10:15,080 As you can observe, all of my innovative steps 187 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:16,763 were counted by the nomenclature. 188 00:10:18,020 --> 00:10:19,773 It was always the same thing. 189 00:10:20,940 --> 00:10:23,610 Instead of governing the affairs and implementing 190 00:10:23,610 --> 00:10:26,500 the Perestroika, the communist party 191 00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:29,123 set about to slow down the whole process. 192 00:10:31,753 --> 00:10:34,990 There were people who considered that you 193 00:10:34,990 --> 00:10:37,930 could only dismantle a communist system 194 00:10:37,930 --> 00:10:39,693 by breaking up the Soviet Union. 195 00:10:42,870 --> 00:10:45,220 I didn't understand that, I couldn't accept it. 196 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:50,900 I thought, and in total honestness, 197 00:10:50,900 --> 00:10:52,390 it was better to build a union 198 00:10:52,390 --> 00:10:54,513 in the style of your European union. 199 00:10:55,381 --> 00:10:57,570 But that is why I prepared a new economic program 200 00:10:57,570 --> 00:10:59,573 to complete over 500 days. 201 00:11:00,740 --> 00:11:02,360 I've had to step in on this issue 202 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,880 during parliamentary debates to severely criticized, 203 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,008 Yavlinsky and Gorbachev himself. 204 00:11:09,008 --> 00:11:11,127 I said to them, "How can we move 205 00:11:11,127 --> 00:11:14,817 "to a market economy in 500 days, 206 00:11:14,817 --> 00:11:18,957 "if we haven't even thought up a theory of market freedom? 207 00:11:18,957 --> 00:11:23,087 "How can you solve this problem within 500 days? 208 00:11:23,087 --> 00:11:23,920 "It's madness." 209 00:11:25,219 --> 00:11:27,636 (soft music) 210 00:11:29,530 --> 00:11:31,730 President Gorbachev was in fact faced 211 00:11:31,730 --> 00:11:33,520 with the eternal dilemma 212 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,860 are Marxism and capitalism compatible? 213 00:11:36,860 --> 00:11:39,230 In other words, can a free market be organized 214 00:11:39,230 --> 00:11:40,913 within a controlled economy? 215 00:11:42,590 --> 00:11:44,800 Perestroika, which was supposed to deal with this 216 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,210 did not have the expected effect. 217 00:11:47,210 --> 00:11:49,850 Opening up trade to competition was a failure 218 00:11:49,850 --> 00:11:51,720 because prices remained fixed 219 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,440 and newly independent producers 220 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:55,903 were not interested in selling at a loss anymore. 221 00:11:57,500 --> 00:11:59,480 The result was a drop in production, 222 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,080 empty shelves in the shops 223 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:03,033 and a general shortage of everything. 224 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:08,090 There's nothing in the shops. 225 00:12:08,090 --> 00:12:10,850 We spend our time running around, there's just nothing, 226 00:12:10,850 --> 00:12:12,693 something's got to be done, please. 227 00:12:15,750 --> 00:12:18,750 It's not the kind of question you ask Mikhail Sergeyevich. 228 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:21,970 Gorbachev was already talking about the need 229 00:12:21,970 --> 00:12:24,722 to liberalize the prices of indispensable goods 230 00:12:24,722 --> 00:12:26,963 two months after his election, 231 00:12:28,230 --> 00:12:29,690 and the closer he got to the time 232 00:12:29,690 --> 00:12:32,920 he had to make a decision to take his responsibilities 233 00:12:34,660 --> 00:12:37,213 the more his pen was moving away from the paper. 234 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,350 Mikhail Gorbachev procrastinated 235 00:12:41,350 --> 00:12:45,410 and finally gave up his program, but it was too late. 236 00:12:45,410 --> 00:12:49,030 The dollar traded underhand became the reference currency. 237 00:12:49,030 --> 00:12:52,413 The ruble collapsed, inflation was shooting up. 238 00:12:53,260 --> 00:12:55,660 Beggars appeared in the Moscow streets, 239 00:12:55,660 --> 00:12:57,543 a sight unseen before. 240 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,395 Salaries and pensions were not paid regularly anymore. 241 00:13:02,395 --> 00:13:04,812 (soft music) 242 00:13:06,310 --> 00:13:08,150 With hindsight, 20 years later, 243 00:13:08,150 --> 00:13:10,210 Mikhail Gorbachev was very critical 244 00:13:10,210 --> 00:13:13,463 of this aborted program for lightening economic change. 245 00:13:14,450 --> 00:13:16,290 In fact it was a big mistake. 246 00:13:16,290 --> 00:13:18,160 It's impossible to make a transition 247 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,070 from one economic system to another 248 00:13:20,070 --> 00:13:25,070 within 500 days, we failed, we really failed. 249 00:13:25,099 --> 00:13:27,849 (crowd chatting) 250 00:13:29,430 --> 00:13:31,000 The failure was so extensive 251 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,950 that on the 1st of May, 1990, 252 00:13:32,950 --> 00:13:35,770 for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, 253 00:13:35,770 --> 00:13:37,610 a leader of the country was forced to leave 254 00:13:37,610 --> 00:13:39,400 the official podium on the Red Square, 255 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:40,873 by the booing of the crowd. 256 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,670 It was then that a man who'd been out of favor 257 00:13:46,670 --> 00:13:50,163 for several years, came to the full, Boris Yeltsin. 258 00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:55,070 He was a high official and important provincial apparatchik 259 00:13:55,070 --> 00:13:58,350 appreciated for his efficiency and outspokenness 260 00:13:58,350 --> 00:14:01,170 and had been first secretary of the party in Moscow 261 00:14:01,170 --> 00:14:03,870 before being ousted by Gorbachev for criticizing 262 00:14:03,870 --> 00:14:05,753 the slow progress of Perestroika. 263 00:14:08,300 --> 00:14:10,610 I must admit that Yeltsin's appointment 264 00:14:10,610 --> 00:14:12,633 was a joint mistake in the party. 265 00:14:13,790 --> 00:14:15,253 We discussed it at length. 266 00:14:17,590 --> 00:14:19,613 Should we accept him among us or not? 267 00:14:20,730 --> 00:14:24,027 I was told, "Mikhail Sergeyevich, he is trustworthy, 268 00:14:24,027 --> 00:14:25,957 "he should be on our team. 269 00:14:25,957 --> 00:14:28,597 "He won't hesitate, he'll make decisions." 270 00:14:29,750 --> 00:14:33,700 So we took him, and how did it all end? 271 00:14:33,700 --> 00:14:34,783 Well, that you know. 272 00:14:35,974 --> 00:14:37,640 (soft music) 273 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:39,320 Elected deputy of the people 274 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:40,990 at the head of the Communist Reformers, 275 00:14:40,990 --> 00:14:43,130 Boris Yeltsin never lost an opportunity 276 00:14:43,130 --> 00:14:45,590 to show his hostility to Gorbachev. 277 00:14:45,590 --> 00:14:47,813 He regularly attacked him in parliament. 278 00:14:51,370 --> 00:14:53,090 Time has come to present society 279 00:14:53,090 --> 00:14:55,620 with an objective picture of the situation. 280 00:14:55,620 --> 00:14:58,640 That's what Mikhail Gorbachev could have done. 281 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,970 He is the one who proclaimed the Perestroika, 282 00:15:00,970 --> 00:15:05,300 and of course his responsibility is foremost in the crisis 283 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:06,703 it is currently undergoing. 284 00:15:10,470 --> 00:15:13,570 Gorbachev's foreign policy was just as criticized 285 00:15:13,570 --> 00:15:15,890 as the failings of Perestroika. 286 00:15:15,890 --> 00:15:18,720 He was accused of having yielded to Western powers. 287 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:20,920 Not only by not seriously negotiating 288 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,950 the departure of Soviet troops from East Germany, 289 00:15:23,950 --> 00:15:26,313 but also on a much more important matter. 290 00:15:27,470 --> 00:15:31,103 Bush, the Bush administration told Mikhail Sergeyevich, 291 00:15:32,417 --> 00:15:35,687 "We all agree, there have to be a United Germany 292 00:15:35,687 --> 00:15:38,047 "This question can no longer be put off. 293 00:15:38,047 --> 00:15:41,127 "There has to be, it's historical justice, 294 00:15:41,127 --> 00:15:43,957 "but what do we do with United Germany? 295 00:15:43,957 --> 00:15:45,117 "What do you do with it? 296 00:15:45,117 --> 00:15:46,070 "Where do you put it?" 297 00:15:46,070 --> 00:15:48,810 So one solution was to put Germany in NATO. 298 00:15:48,810 --> 00:15:52,420 So you control, but Gorbachev didn't like the idea. 299 00:15:52,420 --> 00:15:54,830 It was too big of a capitulation, 300 00:15:54,830 --> 00:15:56,480 too big of a concession. 301 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,260 And then Gorbachev was told or he asked for, 302 00:15:59,260 --> 00:16:02,700 I don't know which, that if Germany is in NATO, 303 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:05,460 NATO will never move eastward. 304 00:16:05,460 --> 00:16:08,163 In other words, NATO will stop at Germany. 305 00:16:09,310 --> 00:16:14,310 Gorbachev was given that promise, but he made a mistake. 306 00:16:14,530 --> 00:16:15,776 He trusted them Americans. 307 00:16:15,776 --> 00:16:17,060 (soft music) 308 00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:19,220 Indeed, it was obvious that the Poles, 309 00:16:19,220 --> 00:16:22,700 Hungarians and Czechs would do everything to enter NATO, 310 00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:24,980 thus pushing the limits of the organization 311 00:16:24,980 --> 00:16:27,043 to the very borders of the USSR. 312 00:16:29,150 --> 00:16:30,490 Increasingly weakened, 313 00:16:30,490 --> 00:16:32,500 Gorbachev nevertheless won a victory 314 00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:34,780 when he was reappointed Secretary General, 315 00:16:34,780 --> 00:16:38,080 by the 28th Congress of the communist party, 316 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,250 conservatives were put in a minority. 317 00:16:41,250 --> 00:16:43,480 But suddenly in a spectacular move, 318 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,253 Boris Yeltsin slammed the door of the party. 319 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,030 No one else but me saw him in that state, 320 00:16:53,610 --> 00:16:55,563 he was livid, deeply upset. 321 00:16:58,558 --> 00:17:01,008 He who sucked the milk of the communist mother. 322 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,723 He who owed his whole life to communism, 323 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:07,633 had to part with all that. 324 00:17:14,740 --> 00:17:17,363 Remember this time in the Kremlin Congress hall, 325 00:17:19,569 --> 00:17:23,450 he is seen from behind walking up the aisle, 326 00:17:23,450 --> 00:17:25,400 at the height of this power 327 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,320 that just awhile ago had been ruthless. 328 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,823 All powerful was now in a shambles. 329 00:17:32,888 --> 00:17:34,950 In fact, when walking out like that, 330 00:17:34,950 --> 00:17:37,000 he's walking towards new potential power. 331 00:17:40,830 --> 00:17:44,083 In the fall of 1990, here is the situation. 332 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:47,550 Democrats have dropped Gorbachev 333 00:17:47,550 --> 00:17:50,283 after he abandoned the 500 day program, 334 00:17:51,710 --> 00:17:54,250 and communists too turned away from him 335 00:17:54,250 --> 00:17:58,240 on the grounds that what use can you be 336 00:17:58,240 --> 00:17:59,893 after all you've done to us? 337 00:18:01,260 --> 00:18:03,273 So he was left, hanging in the air. 338 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:06,550 In this vacuum, 339 00:18:06,550 --> 00:18:09,040 President Gorbachev was forced to choose 340 00:18:10,170 --> 00:18:12,470 as he could not possibly get along with Yeltsin 341 00:18:12,470 --> 00:18:14,500 for political and personal reasons, 342 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:15,980 he turned to the communists, 343 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:17,150 although they blamed him 344 00:18:17,150 --> 00:18:19,213 for breaking the monopoly of their party. 345 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:23,480 In the autumn, he put together 346 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,170 a new strong-willed team with them. 347 00:18:26,170 --> 00:18:29,220 He appointed Boris Pugo, Minister of the Interior, 348 00:18:29,220 --> 00:18:31,110 Dmitry Yazov, Minister of Defense 349 00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:33,923 and Wladimir Kryuchkov, Head of the KGB. 350 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,210 Then he made new concessions to hardliners 351 00:18:37,210 --> 00:18:40,283 by appointing Gennady Yanayev, Vice President, 352 00:18:41,260 --> 00:18:43,733 and Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister. 353 00:18:45,220 --> 00:18:47,570 This change of direction was so striking 354 00:18:47,570 --> 00:18:50,120 that his most faithful companion in arms, 355 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:52,357 Eduard Shevardnadze walked out. 356 00:18:56,100 --> 00:18:59,003 This is the advent of a dictatorship. 357 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,223 I declare it, with solemn awareness. 358 00:19:04,630 --> 00:19:07,640 No one knows what this dictatorship will be, 359 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:12,093 or who will be the dictator, or what its practices will be. 360 00:19:13,250 --> 00:19:16,900 I want to say this, I am resigning. 361 00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:19,723 I'm doing this to protest against this dictatorship. 362 00:19:20,566 --> 00:19:21,571 Thank you. 363 00:19:21,571 --> 00:19:24,571 (audience clapping) 364 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,027 After me, it was Gorbachev who spoke. 365 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:37,840 He said, "This is untrue, there is no threat. 366 00:19:39,547 --> 00:19:42,017 "If there were a genuine threat, 367 00:19:42,017 --> 00:19:47,017 "why would he, Shevardnadze, know about it and not me?" 368 00:19:47,690 --> 00:19:50,217 But I had reliable information. 369 00:19:50,217 --> 00:19:51,840 And do you know why? 370 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:53,310 Because in the foreign office, 371 00:19:53,310 --> 00:19:56,440 I directed 30 to 40% of diplomats 372 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:58,410 who were working for the KGB. 373 00:19:58,410 --> 00:19:59,870 They knew everything, 374 00:19:59,870 --> 00:20:03,160 naturally they informed me too. 375 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,048 Gorbachev didn't want to believe me. 376 00:20:06,048 --> 00:20:07,430 (upbeat music) 377 00:20:07,430 --> 00:20:09,250 The hardening of the regime in Moscow 378 00:20:09,250 --> 00:20:11,880 caused conservative communists in the Baltic states 379 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:13,323 to go on the offensive. 380 00:20:14,330 --> 00:20:16,640 They took to the streets in Vilnius and Riga 381 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,473 to call for their countries to stay in the Soviet fold. 382 00:20:20,830 --> 00:20:25,283 They clashed with independentists, tension was mounting. 383 00:20:27,460 --> 00:20:30,983 There were gatherings of 100 to 150,000 people. 384 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:33,900 You couldn't see the end of the crowd 385 00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:35,533 that went beyond the horizon. 386 00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:42,050 High officials called me to Moscow and told me, 387 00:20:42,050 --> 00:20:44,310 we offer you all the necessary means 388 00:20:44,310 --> 00:20:45,973 to suppress this movement. 389 00:20:49,130 --> 00:20:52,643 I told them I don't want any of those means, I won't do it. 390 00:20:53,660 --> 00:20:55,003 Then such offers stopped. 391 00:20:56,614 --> 00:20:59,114 (tense music) 392 00:20:59,980 --> 00:21:02,190 A coup was being prepared in Vilnius. 393 00:21:02,190 --> 00:21:03,913 Commandos were standing by, 394 00:21:04,770 --> 00:21:07,293 an order from Moscow and they stepped in. 395 00:21:08,730 --> 00:21:11,870 Under my eyes, President Gorbachev called Yazov, 396 00:21:11,870 --> 00:21:14,083 the defense minister and told him. 397 00:21:15,597 --> 00:21:17,757 "How long is this going to last? 398 00:21:17,757 --> 00:21:20,883 "Why can't you get it over with this bunch of nationalists? 399 00:21:23,826 --> 00:21:27,127 Yazov answered, "Mikhail Sergeyevich, 400 00:21:27,127 --> 00:21:29,577 "you are the commander-in-chief. 401 00:21:29,577 --> 00:21:31,677 "Give me the written order, and tomorrow 402 00:21:31,677 --> 00:21:34,867 "not only this TV tower won't exist anymore, 403 00:21:34,867 --> 00:21:36,917 "but there won't be anything left there." 404 00:21:40,460 --> 00:21:44,197 And Gorbachev said, "My word is not enough for you?" 405 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:48,780 In fact, no one wanted 406 00:21:48,780 --> 00:21:51,712 to take it upon himself to shed blood. 407 00:21:51,712 --> 00:21:54,295 (upbeat music) 408 00:21:58,442 --> 00:21:59,930 The consequence of this indecision 409 00:21:59,930 --> 00:22:03,450 at the highest level of state did not take long to happen. 410 00:22:03,450 --> 00:22:06,270 The alpha elite commando seized the public buildings 411 00:22:06,270 --> 00:22:08,480 in Vilnius and took on the nationalists, 412 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,380 entrenched in the television building. 413 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,573 There were 14 dead and 700 wounded. 414 00:22:16,700 --> 00:22:19,853 Similar events occurred in Riga with four casualties. 415 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,430 Gorbachev reacted immediately, 416 00:22:23,430 --> 00:22:26,330 which was not something Soviet leaders had been known for. 417 00:22:31,820 --> 00:22:35,660 I deeply regret the tragic events that happened recently 418 00:22:35,660 --> 00:22:37,813 in Lithuania and in Riga. 419 00:22:41,510 --> 00:22:44,430 And I express my deeply felt condolences 420 00:22:44,430 --> 00:22:47,523 to the families afflicted by this tragedy. 421 00:22:50,710 --> 00:22:52,980 The news of the casualties in Riga and Vilnius 422 00:22:52,980 --> 00:22:55,230 had a resounding effect in the USSR 423 00:22:55,230 --> 00:22:57,754 and throughout the Western world. 424 00:22:57,754 --> 00:23:00,171 (soft music) 425 00:23:03,830 --> 00:23:06,380 After these events, the west 426 00:23:06,380 --> 00:23:09,253 and mostly the United States were worried. 427 00:23:10,490 --> 00:23:12,340 They feared that it would destabilize 428 00:23:12,340 --> 00:23:15,980 not only the newly independent Eastern countries, 429 00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:18,733 but also the Soviet union itself. 430 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,080 I remember the remarks of George Bush, 431 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:26,880 of Margaret Thatcher and of Francois Mitterrand. 432 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:27,873 at the time. 433 00:23:30,050 --> 00:23:31,670 They feared that these events 434 00:23:31,670 --> 00:23:34,520 might hinder Gorbachev's Perestroika. 435 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,110 They truly liked Gorbachev as long as he carried their hope 436 00:23:38,110 --> 00:23:41,955 for a true democratization of the Soviet union. 437 00:23:41,955 --> 00:23:44,372 (soft music) 438 00:23:46,090 --> 00:23:47,320 So to take another step 439 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:48,990 on the long road to democracy 440 00:23:48,990 --> 00:23:51,230 and in order to regain hold on the situation, 441 00:23:51,230 --> 00:23:54,400 president Gorbachev decided to organize a referendum, 442 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,160 the first and so far, the last one 443 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:57,660 in the history of the country. 444 00:23:58,820 --> 00:24:01,230 The population was asked whether the USSR 445 00:24:01,230 --> 00:24:03,773 should be maintained according to a new treaty of union 446 00:24:03,773 --> 00:24:05,693 that was still to be defined. 447 00:24:07,271 --> 00:24:10,230 (soft music) 448 00:24:10,230 --> 00:24:13,053 The answer was a 76%, yes. 449 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,560 The same day another referendum took place in Russia alone. 450 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,140 70% of voters declared themselves in favor 451 00:24:22,140 --> 00:24:24,810 of establishing a function of president of Russia, 452 00:24:24,810 --> 00:24:26,853 elected by universal suffrage. 453 00:24:29,290 --> 00:24:32,930 On the 16th of June, Boris Yeltsin took the oath. 454 00:24:32,930 --> 00:24:35,903 He had just been elected as the first president of Russia. 455 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,510 Moscow was now the seat of two opposing powers 456 00:24:41,510 --> 00:24:44,630 that of the Soviet Union represented by Gorbachev, 457 00:24:44,630 --> 00:24:47,750 and that of Russia with Yeltsin at his head 458 00:24:47,750 --> 00:24:50,831 embodying the hopes of the Russian people. 459 00:24:50,831 --> 00:24:53,248 (soft music) 460 00:24:57,110 --> 00:24:58,540 If there were contradictions 461 00:24:58,540 --> 00:25:00,450 between Gorbachev and Yeltsin, 462 00:25:00,450 --> 00:25:02,820 they were not very serious. 463 00:25:02,820 --> 00:25:05,290 What drove them was the struggle for power, 464 00:25:05,290 --> 00:25:07,200 the struggle for the first place. 465 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:08,970 That's what it was really about. 466 00:25:08,970 --> 00:25:11,350 And mostly that's what stood between them. 467 00:25:11,350 --> 00:25:14,200 I must say that these two men loved power so much 468 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:15,480 that in my mind, if Yeltsin 469 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,810 had become secretary general of the party, 470 00:25:17,810 --> 00:25:21,018 the party would have been strengthened, that's the paradox. 471 00:25:21,018 --> 00:25:23,670 (soft music) 472 00:25:23,670 --> 00:25:24,580 In this struggle, 473 00:25:24,580 --> 00:25:27,880 Gorbachev was hindered by his economic results. 474 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,490 In order to pull his country out of the economic slump, 475 00:25:30,490 --> 00:25:31,780 he was accused of causing, 476 00:25:31,780 --> 00:25:34,823 he had no choice, but to turn towards the west. 477 00:25:36,020 --> 00:25:38,760 He wanted to obtain large scale financial aid 478 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,630 and got himself invited to London, to the G-7 summit 479 00:25:41,630 --> 00:25:44,423 of the most industrialized countries in the world. 480 00:25:47,580 --> 00:25:50,377 He made himself a remarkable plea saying, 481 00:25:50,377 --> 00:25:53,347 "Listen, I did everything that I was told to do. 482 00:25:53,347 --> 00:25:55,627 "I was asked to take experts and I took them. 483 00:25:55,627 --> 00:25:57,457 "I was sent American experts. 484 00:25:57,457 --> 00:25:59,922 "I was asked to liberate prices and I did, 485 00:25:59,922 --> 00:26:02,087 "I was asked to free the markets and I freed them. 486 00:26:02,087 --> 00:26:04,557 "But now I'm at the end of my rope. 487 00:26:04,557 --> 00:26:07,427 "If you don't help me, it will be a disaster." 488 00:26:07,427 --> 00:26:10,650 But the most surprising was Major, the Englishman 489 00:26:10,650 --> 00:26:13,320 who presided, he complimented him, 490 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,920 then walked him back and gathered us together 491 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,063 to discuss the matter. 492 00:26:18,330 --> 00:26:21,877 To my great surprise Major said, "Yes, it's true, 493 00:26:21,877 --> 00:26:23,697 "Gorbachev should be helped, 494 00:26:23,697 --> 00:26:26,433 "but the future is uncertain and we will be tied up. 495 00:26:27,657 --> 00:26:31,820 "We should keep some ammunition for his successors." 496 00:26:31,820 --> 00:26:34,130 It was, and maybe also the way of putting it 497 00:26:34,130 --> 00:26:37,150 rather surprising, since it was an acknowledgement 498 00:26:37,150 --> 00:26:39,900 of the idea that Gorbachev was about to fall. 499 00:26:40,780 --> 00:26:42,140 They preferred Yeltsin. 500 00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:45,093 Yeltsin was a brutal, tough leader, 501 00:26:46,190 --> 00:26:48,113 very much opposed to democracy, 502 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,780 who they thought could keep Russia under control. 503 00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:55,970 Gorbachev is moving toward, he was on, 504 00:26:55,970 --> 00:27:00,970 he could have attempted to lead Russia towards democracy, 505 00:27:00,990 --> 00:27:02,410 social democracy, 506 00:27:02,410 --> 00:27:07,120 independence in ways that the west didn't prefer. 507 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:09,150 They'd much rather have a harsh, 508 00:27:09,150 --> 00:27:11,523 tough dictator who will do what they want. 509 00:27:12,730 --> 00:27:17,630 If the G-7 had given Gorbachev a big financial package 510 00:27:18,700 --> 00:27:22,370 of economic, financial and credit help, 511 00:27:22,370 --> 00:27:24,620 there would have been no coup attempt. 512 00:27:24,620 --> 00:27:28,940 They never would have dared move against Gorbachev 513 00:27:28,940 --> 00:27:33,020 if he had $20 billion financial aid package, 514 00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:34,656 they never would've done it. 515 00:27:34,656 --> 00:27:36,870 (tense music) 516 00:27:36,870 --> 00:27:38,690 Coming back from London, empty handed, 517 00:27:38,690 --> 00:27:41,350 Mikhail Gorbachev knew that his political position 518 00:27:41,350 --> 00:27:43,370 was hanging by a thread. 519 00:27:43,370 --> 00:27:44,980 The summer vacation was approaching 520 00:27:44,980 --> 00:27:47,680 and rumors of a putsch were circulating. 521 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,180 They were well founded. 522 00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:51,073 A coup was definitely in the making. 523 00:27:52,450 --> 00:27:54,150 It had been prepared for a long time 524 00:27:54,150 --> 00:27:55,670 by a small group of men, 525 00:27:55,670 --> 00:27:57,730 all of them close to president Gorbachev 526 00:27:57,730 --> 00:27:59,180 or members of his government. 527 00:28:02,620 --> 00:28:04,750 It started in December nineties. 528 00:28:04,750 --> 00:28:06,243 We didn't meet altogether. 529 00:28:07,850 --> 00:28:09,913 We saw each other in small committees. 530 00:28:11,445 --> 00:28:15,300 the country was going to the dogs and extraordinary measures 531 00:28:15,300 --> 00:28:17,343 were needed to stop this process. 532 00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:24,100 We had the constitution of the Soviet Union behind us 533 00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:25,800 and the March referendum. 534 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,120 When the people had said a firm no 535 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,287 to the destruction of the Soviet union. 536 00:28:31,287 --> 00:28:33,787 (tense music) 537 00:28:35,310 --> 00:28:37,810 The would be putschists were strongly opposed 538 00:28:37,810 --> 00:28:39,920 to the new treaty prepared by Gorbachev, 539 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,500 which would turn the Soviet Union 540 00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:43,550 into a Federation of sovereign states, 541 00:28:43,550 --> 00:28:46,370 each enjoying a large measure of independence. 542 00:28:46,370 --> 00:28:48,787 (soft music) 543 00:28:51,710 --> 00:28:54,260 The project of a treaty to create the new union 544 00:28:54,260 --> 00:28:57,530 was ready, it was published at the end of July. 545 00:28:57,530 --> 00:29:00,210 The main problems were almost sorted out, 546 00:29:00,210 --> 00:29:02,960 the day when it was to be signed, had even been set. 547 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,570 It was scheduled on the 20th of August. 548 00:29:05,570 --> 00:29:09,330 The first signatories were going to be Russia and Belarus. 549 00:29:09,330 --> 00:29:12,750 The putschists thought, now is the time to act. 550 00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:14,495 That's how it happened. 551 00:29:14,495 --> 00:29:17,078 (upbeat music) 552 00:29:18,550 --> 00:29:21,270 On the 18th of August, while Mikhail Gorbachev, 553 00:29:21,270 --> 00:29:23,890 his wife Raisa and his family were on holiday 554 00:29:23,890 --> 00:29:26,210 in the presidential residence in Crimea, 555 00:29:26,210 --> 00:29:27,833 a troubling event occurred. 556 00:29:32,670 --> 00:29:34,920 The ministry of defense cut off the electricity 557 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,120 and the telephone in the presidential villa. 558 00:29:40,470 --> 00:29:42,853 The military told me they had received the order. 559 00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:47,852 That's how it was, and they left the Villa. 560 00:29:47,852 --> 00:29:50,440 (tense music) 561 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,640 Meanwhile, Soviet Navy cruises 562 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,980 were patrolling ostentatiously along the coast. 563 00:29:55,980 --> 00:29:59,183 The idea was to create a sense of tension in the residents. 564 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,960 After a while, a delegation of ministers 565 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,070 and party members broke 566 00:30:06,070 --> 00:30:08,175 into president Gorbachev's residence. 567 00:30:08,175 --> 00:30:10,840 (tense music) 568 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,140 Without further ado, they demanded that he declare 569 00:30:13,140 --> 00:30:14,950 a state of emergency in the country, 570 00:30:14,950 --> 00:30:17,250 which in fact would vindicate the coup d'etat. 571 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,343 He answered by stating the constitutional principles. 572 00:30:25,124 --> 00:30:26,610 It's simple, I told these putschists, 573 00:30:26,610 --> 00:30:29,400 go and bring together the Congress of the people. 574 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,030 Then you will express yourselves in front of them 575 00:30:32,030 --> 00:30:34,160 and then I'll do the same. 576 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,723 And after that we'll make the suitable decision. 577 00:30:37,610 --> 00:30:41,170 They told me, "In that case, sign your resignation." 578 00:30:41,170 --> 00:30:44,390 I refused, thus the coup met with my resistance 579 00:30:44,390 --> 00:30:46,190 and didn't get my support. 580 00:30:46,190 --> 00:30:47,813 They wanted me to support them. 581 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,180 That's how things really happened. 582 00:30:58,107 --> 00:30:59,600 (tense music) 583 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:01,080 According to one of the putschists 584 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,000 who was there, Gorbachev's behavior 585 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,020 on that 18th of August at foros 586 00:31:05,020 --> 00:31:07,100 when the future of the regime was at stake 587 00:31:07,100 --> 00:31:08,233 was very different. 588 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,660 You know, I was there and here's how Gorbachev behaved. 589 00:31:13,660 --> 00:31:15,477 He took a piece of paper and he said, 590 00:31:15,477 --> 00:31:17,437 "Well, I'll write to the president of parliament 591 00:31:17,437 --> 00:31:20,290 "to ask him to gather the Congress of the people." 592 00:31:20,290 --> 00:31:22,460 He took his pen, he took a sheet of paper 593 00:31:22,460 --> 00:31:24,260 and then he fumbled with them. 594 00:31:24,260 --> 00:31:27,740 And then he said, but actually, why should I write? 595 00:31:27,740 --> 00:31:29,560 You're here, go and tell the president 596 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:30,783 to gather the Congress. 597 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:34,360 Another participant 598 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,280 read tacit encouragement for the Gorbachev's behavior. 599 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,780 (tense music) 600 00:31:42,910 --> 00:31:44,970 In fact, we had a feeling that the president 601 00:31:44,970 --> 00:31:47,947 could not tell us openly, "Go ahead, guys, 602 00:31:47,947 --> 00:31:50,087 "do your coup, take hold of Yeltsin, 603 00:31:50,087 --> 00:31:52,987 "grab him by the feet and throw him wherever you want." 604 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,330 No, he never said anything like that, 605 00:31:58,330 --> 00:32:00,833 but presidents never used that language. 606 00:32:04,630 --> 00:32:06,590 So the putschists entered Moscow 607 00:32:06,590 --> 00:32:10,000 without the official authorization of president Gorbachev 608 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,593 and decided to precipitate the course of events. 609 00:32:14,410 --> 00:32:16,260 Statement of Soviet leaders. 610 00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:18,380 Due to the incapacity for reasons 611 00:32:18,380 --> 00:32:19,950 of health of Mikhail Gorbachev, 612 00:32:19,950 --> 00:32:23,160 to fulfill his function of president of the USSR 613 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,100 as per 97 of Article 127 of the constitution, 614 00:32:27,100 --> 00:32:29,273 the state of emergency is declared. 615 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,350 500 Tanks rolled into Moscow. 616 00:32:34,350 --> 00:32:37,253 It was Yazov, the Minister of Defense who gave the order. 617 00:32:39,810 --> 00:32:43,560 They took up position in strategic places around ministries, 618 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:45,450 the radio, the television, 619 00:32:45,450 --> 00:32:48,433 they encircled the Russian parliament, the white house. 620 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,930 The putschists and the Kremlin established censorship, 621 00:32:52,930 --> 00:32:55,903 the prohibition of demonstrations, a curfew. 622 00:32:56,750 --> 00:32:58,910 They got in touch with Boris Yeltsin 623 00:32:58,910 --> 00:33:01,553 who refused their invitation to join their action. 624 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,760 At Boris Yeltsin's denture, 625 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:09,760 we then drew up an appeal to the people. 626 00:33:11,970 --> 00:33:16,010 We found an absolutely clear, precise and adequate wording 627 00:33:16,010 --> 00:33:19,100 to say that the legitimately elected president Gorbachev 628 00:33:20,170 --> 00:33:21,593 had been removed from power, 629 00:33:23,824 --> 00:33:26,343 and that the putschists were state criminals. 630 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,693 It was the key to what would happen over those three days. 631 00:33:38,330 --> 00:33:39,623 The single sentence. 632 00:33:41,770 --> 00:33:44,420 It was a sentence meant for the international community 633 00:33:44,420 --> 00:33:47,323 as well as for the people within our own borders. 634 00:33:50,722 --> 00:33:53,720 (upbeat music) 635 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:55,230 As more and more Muscovites 636 00:33:55,230 --> 00:33:57,180 converge towards the white house, 637 00:33:57,180 --> 00:33:59,530 which was encircled by tanks. 638 00:33:59,530 --> 00:34:01,430 Boris Yeltsin decided to go there 639 00:34:01,430 --> 00:34:04,993 to speak with the tank crews, most of them conscripts. 640 00:34:09,180 --> 00:34:13,517 I told him, "Don't you think of it Boris Nikolayevich, 641 00:34:13,517 --> 00:34:15,447 "it's out of the question. 642 00:34:19,237 --> 00:34:21,247 "We don't know what they're up to, 643 00:34:21,247 --> 00:34:24,787 "we don't know who can be ambushed on a roof or a balcony. 644 00:34:24,787 --> 00:34:25,997 "You can't do that." 645 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:31,447 He turned around and said, 646 00:34:31,447 --> 00:34:33,247 "Give me the text of the statement." 647 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,263 I still try and persuade him to change his mind. 648 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:41,880 Five or six minutes later, 649 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,358 Yeltsin had climbed onto a tank 650 00:34:44,358 --> 00:34:46,158 and there were a few of us with him. 651 00:34:50,100 --> 00:34:54,020 Since I have no access to television or the radio. 652 00:34:54,020 --> 00:34:55,193 I will read this. 653 00:34:56,990 --> 00:34:58,450 To the citizens of Russia 654 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:03,810 in the night of the 18th to 19th of August, 1991. 655 00:35:03,810 --> 00:35:06,610 The president duly elected, according to the law 656 00:35:06,610 --> 00:35:08,433 was moved away from power. 657 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,943 It prompts us to declare the so-called committee outlaw. 658 00:35:14,145 --> 00:35:16,895 (crowd cheering) 659 00:35:19,690 --> 00:35:21,170 Boris Yeltsin's statement 660 00:35:21,170 --> 00:35:23,260 had an immediate effect on the demonstrators 661 00:35:23,260 --> 00:35:25,390 who had come to find a leader. 662 00:35:25,390 --> 00:35:27,700 The young soldiers in their tanks were at a loss 663 00:35:27,700 --> 00:35:29,023 as to how to respond. 664 00:35:35,740 --> 00:35:39,690 It started going wrong for us when Yeltsin and his people, 665 00:35:39,690 --> 00:35:42,930 the Popov, the sub Czech, and so on, 666 00:35:42,930 --> 00:35:45,220 all these national traitors, 667 00:35:45,220 --> 00:35:47,343 you couldn't find another word for them. 668 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:53,343 Brought nearly 100,000 people in front of the white house. 669 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:57,903 It sank the boat for good. 670 00:36:01,208 --> 00:36:03,290 (dramatic music) 671 00:36:03,290 --> 00:36:05,640 At 5:00 PM, the putschists appeared 672 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:06,773 for the first time. 673 00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:10,160 Gennady Yanayev surrounded by five men 674 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,000 gave a press conference, 675 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,070 ministers and party dignitaries, 676 00:36:14,070 --> 00:36:16,323 they had all been appointed by Gorbachev. 677 00:36:18,130 --> 00:36:21,080 I wish to announce that the administrative committee 678 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:25,360 of the emergency state of the USSR is fully aware 679 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,423 of the extent of the crisis that struck our country. 680 00:36:33,540 --> 00:36:36,450 Due to the incapacity of Mikhail Gorbachev 681 00:36:36,450 --> 00:36:39,620 for reasons of health, to exercise his function 682 00:36:39,620 --> 00:36:41,193 as President of the USSR, 683 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,643 I will temporarily assume the function of president. 684 00:36:47,230 --> 00:36:49,245 In Crimea, Mikhail Gorbachev, 685 00:36:49,245 --> 00:36:51,360 and his entourage who had been following the events 686 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:53,380 on the television set of the villas warden 687 00:36:53,380 --> 00:36:55,963 realized what the putschists intentions were. 688 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,290 Raisa was shocked by the press conference. 689 00:37:02,290 --> 00:37:04,873 When Yanayev was seen with trembling hands. 690 00:37:08,660 --> 00:37:10,357 Gorbachev remark that now the putschists 691 00:37:10,357 --> 00:37:13,320 would try to put in reality in line with their lies 692 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:14,620 about his state of health. 693 00:37:15,940 --> 00:37:18,090 So they were going to try and poison him. 694 00:37:19,010 --> 00:37:20,580 From then on he refused to eat, 695 00:37:20,580 --> 00:37:22,773 whatever came from the residence's kitchen. 696 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,870 Deprived of contact with the outside world 697 00:37:27,870 --> 00:37:30,280 Mikhail Gorbachev who feared for his life 698 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,860 recorded a statement in front of a home video camera. 699 00:37:33,860 --> 00:37:35,910 We've retrieved this exceptional document 700 00:37:35,910 --> 00:37:37,433 from a set of archives. 701 00:37:43,250 --> 00:37:45,700 After the press conference 702 00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:47,623 of the state emergency committee, 703 00:37:49,310 --> 00:37:51,230 led by comrade Yanayev, 704 00:37:52,580 --> 00:37:56,110 I understood that the Russian and foreign public 705 00:37:56,110 --> 00:37:57,523 had been misinformed. 706 00:38:03,100 --> 00:38:04,003 I declare, 707 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,053 that everything that was said about my health is false. 708 00:38:14,890 --> 00:38:18,253 This lie served a plot against the constitution. 709 00:38:20,500 --> 00:38:23,800 The law for president is prevented 710 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,543 from exercising, his function. 711 00:38:33,020 --> 00:38:35,860 Moreover, the Crimea residence 712 00:38:35,860 --> 00:38:38,933 where I am on holiday is surrounded by soldiers. 713 00:38:40,740 --> 00:38:41,640 I am under arrest. 714 00:38:43,284 --> 00:38:45,784 (tense music) 715 00:38:46,620 --> 00:38:48,310 The next day, Boris Yeltsin, 716 00:38:48,310 --> 00:38:49,870 who spent the night in the parliament 717 00:38:49,870 --> 00:38:52,060 protected by a large security service 718 00:38:52,060 --> 00:38:55,373 received more and more support from the country and abroad. 719 00:38:56,570 --> 00:38:59,490 Barriers were erected by Muscovites around the tanks 720 00:38:59,490 --> 00:39:02,020 whose occupants who had received no orders 721 00:39:02,020 --> 00:39:03,733 were showing signs of fatigue. 722 00:39:05,580 --> 00:39:08,510 Among the putschists there was total confusion. 723 00:39:08,510 --> 00:39:10,460 One by one, they were trying to Poland. 724 00:39:13,650 --> 00:39:16,810 All of us members of the state emergency committee 725 00:39:16,810 --> 00:39:19,833 were not ones who could order to fire on our own people. 726 00:39:24,170 --> 00:39:26,770 There was no civil war or bloodshed 727 00:39:26,770 --> 00:39:28,410 only an accident during the night 728 00:39:28,410 --> 00:39:29,983 when the tanks began to leave. 729 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,040 There was a way out, 730 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,310 but it had been obstructed by vehicles, 731 00:39:36,310 --> 00:39:40,743 such as a city cleaner, a truck, trolley bus. 732 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,420 Behind them, there was something, 733 00:39:45,420 --> 00:39:47,733 probably tanks pushing, trying to get through. 734 00:39:49,130 --> 00:39:52,330 I saw a man and then jumped into the pit 735 00:39:52,330 --> 00:39:54,613 and run at full speed towards the tanks. 736 00:39:57,660 --> 00:40:01,980 Behind them, you had 100, 150, 200 people. 737 00:40:01,980 --> 00:40:05,040 When they reached the tank, they undid the cover, 738 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,323 it was folded behind it, and threw it over the tank. 739 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,920 The tanks without visibility, as they were under the covers, 740 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,740 they started to go back, at that time, 741 00:40:15,740 --> 00:40:18,163 and they ran over to young people. 742 00:40:19,250 --> 00:40:22,073 There was a loud cry in the crowd. 743 00:40:29,740 --> 00:40:31,340 The soldiers got out of the tank 744 00:40:33,658 --> 00:40:35,108 and none of them was lynched. 745 00:40:36,090 --> 00:40:37,550 On the contrary, people told them, 746 00:40:37,550 --> 00:40:39,700 brothers, what were you going to do? 747 00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:41,633 What were you going to do? 748 00:40:44,512 --> 00:40:46,170 For the first time in the USSR 749 00:40:46,170 --> 00:40:50,023 people acted according to their own conscience, 750 00:40:50,874 --> 00:40:51,707 their own interest. 751 00:40:51,707 --> 00:40:54,333 Instead of following collective orders. 752 00:40:55,325 --> 00:40:57,825 (tense music) 753 00:40:58,970 --> 00:41:01,120 On the morning of the 21st of August, 754 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,820 the state of emergency was lifted. 755 00:41:03,820 --> 00:41:05,920 The putschists surrendered, 756 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:07,960 the tanks drove back to their barracks, 757 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:09,972 amidst popular celebration. 758 00:41:09,972 --> 00:41:12,722 (crowd cheering) 759 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,973 It was now time to bring Gobarchev back to Moscow, 760 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:19,480 in their panic, the putschists 761 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,530 decided to send Vladimir Kryuchkov 762 00:41:21,530 --> 00:41:23,133 and a few others to Crimea. 763 00:41:24,230 --> 00:41:26,270 They thought that by being close to Gorbachev, 764 00:41:26,270 --> 00:41:28,690 they could protect themselves from the consequences 765 00:41:28,690 --> 00:41:30,453 of the turmoil they had caused. 766 00:41:33,230 --> 00:41:34,550 When hearing of this, 767 00:41:34,550 --> 00:41:37,200 Yeltsin, who suspected possible treachery 768 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,870 decided to send his vice president, Rutskoy 769 00:41:39,870 --> 00:41:41,853 to bring back Gobarchev himself. 770 00:41:43,060 --> 00:41:45,120 He would then appear as Gorbachev's savior 771 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:46,713 in the eyes of world opinion. 772 00:41:47,580 --> 00:41:49,940 Yeltsin, therefore informed Western embassies 773 00:41:49,940 --> 00:41:51,663 in Moscow of his initiative. 774 00:41:54,140 --> 00:41:56,160 I was in touch with the French embassy over there, 775 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,660 who let me know that a plane was about to leave. 776 00:41:58,660 --> 00:42:01,150 I told the ambassador, put someone on that plane, 777 00:42:01,150 --> 00:42:02,673 put someone on the plane. 778 00:42:05,410 --> 00:42:07,240 That someone was a French diplomat 779 00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:09,060 who spoke very good Russian. 780 00:42:09,060 --> 00:42:10,680 He joined Rutskoy and his team 781 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,273 whose plane landed two hours later in Crimea. 782 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,304 They immediately went to see Gorbachev. 783 00:42:16,304 --> 00:42:18,804 (tense music) 784 00:42:21,750 --> 00:42:23,800 Gorbachev was protected by a small unit 785 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,143 who took us to him, to his wife, Raisa and his entourage. 786 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,633 However, the putschists were all around. 787 00:42:34,190 --> 00:42:36,850 I told them that as far as we were concerned, 788 00:42:36,850 --> 00:42:39,200 we were in favor of what he had done. 789 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:43,593 And we'd come to help him to come back, which thrilled him. 790 00:42:45,150 --> 00:42:47,030 It's his wife who looked very shattered, 791 00:42:47,030 --> 00:42:47,910 it was painful to see. 792 00:42:47,910 --> 00:42:51,323 Rutskoy told them, we came to set you free. 793 00:42:52,970 --> 00:42:53,850 The problem was 794 00:42:53,850 --> 00:42:55,730 that Kryuchkov and his putschists 795 00:42:55,730 --> 00:42:56,580 were still there. 796 00:42:56,580 --> 00:42:58,960 And they too wanted to take President Gobarchev 797 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:00,983 back to Moscow in their plane. 798 00:43:05,290 --> 00:43:07,227 Gorbachev told us, "Thank you guys, 799 00:43:07,227 --> 00:43:08,767 "but they have to come and fetch me. 800 00:43:08,767 --> 00:43:10,757 "So I'll take their plane. 801 00:43:10,757 --> 00:43:12,667 "We'll pack our suitcases tonight 802 00:43:12,667 --> 00:43:14,570 "and leave tomorrow morning." 803 00:43:14,570 --> 00:43:15,610 We, the Yeltsin team told him, 804 00:43:15,610 --> 00:43:18,936 "No way, you leave with us right away." 805 00:43:18,936 --> 00:43:20,980 (plane engine roaring) 806 00:43:20,980 --> 00:43:23,040 Although tempted to leave with the putschists, 807 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:26,780 Gorbachev agreed to take the plane sent by Yeltsin, 808 00:43:26,780 --> 00:43:28,683 but he knew what was in store for him. 809 00:43:31,270 --> 00:43:33,053 Mikhail Gorbachev was distressed. 810 00:43:34,950 --> 00:43:36,850 He wasn't in his normal state of mind. 811 00:43:38,420 --> 00:43:40,330 He didn't know what to say. 812 00:43:40,330 --> 00:43:41,680 His whole body was shaking. 813 00:43:42,530 --> 00:43:43,363 And I know why. 814 00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,133 Because he'd realized that he was going to lose everything. 815 00:43:49,645 --> 00:43:52,830 (plane engine roaring) 816 00:43:52,830 --> 00:43:55,280 A large delegation of supporters of Yeltsin, 817 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:56,900 the real winner of the putsch, 818 00:43:56,900 --> 00:43:59,463 greeted president Gorbachev at Moscow airport. 819 00:44:02,380 --> 00:44:03,603 He put on a brave face. 820 00:44:10,430 --> 00:44:12,730 His wife Raisa and his granddaughter 821 00:44:12,730 --> 00:44:13,980 clearly looked shattered. 822 00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:20,222 He vigorously condemned the coup, 823 00:44:20,222 --> 00:44:22,643 but could not, but pay homage to his liberator. 824 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:27,920 I would like to express my gratitude 825 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:29,480 to the people of Russia 826 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,470 and their president, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, 827 00:44:32,470 --> 00:44:35,093 for their staunch opposition to this movement. 828 00:44:37,647 --> 00:44:40,397 (crowd clapping) 829 00:44:43,210 --> 00:44:45,220 Mikhail Gorbachev was now at the mercy 830 00:44:45,220 --> 00:44:47,800 of Boris Yeltsin, who presented himself 831 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,513 as the savior of Perestroika and democracy. 832 00:44:52,830 --> 00:44:55,270 And before the Congress of the People's deputies, 833 00:44:55,270 --> 00:44:58,177 it didn't take him long to give his rival the coup declat. 834 00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:02,330 He brandished the text of a decree, 835 00:45:02,330 --> 00:45:04,060 which would suspend the activities 836 00:45:04,060 --> 00:45:05,590 of the communist party in Russia, 837 00:45:05,590 --> 00:45:08,990 as long as the exact part played by Gorbachev's entourage 838 00:45:08,990 --> 00:45:10,873 in the coup had not been elucidated. 839 00:45:11,740 --> 00:45:13,390 One of the deputies went further. 840 00:45:14,610 --> 00:45:17,090 Given his role in this coup, 841 00:45:17,090 --> 00:45:20,330 do you agree that the communist party should be dissolved 842 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,153 as a criminal organization? 843 00:45:24,072 --> 00:45:27,072 (audience clapping) 844 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,170 Since the question was so direct, 845 00:45:37,170 --> 00:45:38,943 I will answer in the same manner. 846 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:46,400 When you talk about the disillusion of the communist party 847 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,623 as a criminal organization, I don't agree at all. 848 00:45:51,910 --> 00:45:55,260 To simply prohibit the party would be a mistake 849 00:45:55,260 --> 00:45:58,593 on the part of the government and the democratic party. 850 00:46:02,450 --> 00:46:05,290 At this point, an incredible scene took place. 851 00:46:05,290 --> 00:46:07,770 Boris Yeltsin came to the platform. 852 00:46:07,770 --> 00:46:10,820 He wanted Gorbachev to co-sign the decree with him. 853 00:46:10,820 --> 00:46:14,163 The president resisted, Yeltsin insisted. 854 00:46:15,090 --> 00:46:16,723 Gobarchev refused. 855 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,103 Yeltsin, went back to his bench and. 856 00:46:22,750 --> 00:46:26,810 Comrades to get it over with, allow me to sign the decree, 857 00:46:26,810 --> 00:46:28,560 putting an end to the activity 858 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:30,533 of the Russian communist party. 859 00:46:32,355 --> 00:46:35,355 (audience clapping) 860 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:38,146 The decree is signed. 861 00:46:38,146 --> 00:46:41,146 (audience clapping) 862 00:46:42,230 --> 00:46:43,090 These pictures, 863 00:46:43,090 --> 00:46:46,110 add live on all the TV sets of the USSR, 864 00:46:46,110 --> 00:46:48,940 accelerated the disintegration of the empire. 865 00:46:48,940 --> 00:46:51,470 In the following weeks, the Soviet government recognized 866 00:46:51,470 --> 00:46:53,760 the independence of the Baltic states 867 00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:57,433 of Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Belarus. 868 00:46:58,290 --> 00:46:59,777 That's when president Gorbachev, 869 00:46:59,777 --> 00:47:01,540 who was trying to maintain a link, 870 00:47:01,540 --> 00:47:04,570 however tenuous between Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus, 871 00:47:04,570 --> 00:47:06,040 and the Asian republics, 872 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,443 thought of creating an economic union. 873 00:47:12,150 --> 00:47:14,450 We worked on a new treaty of economic union 874 00:47:14,450 --> 00:47:17,670 and Yeltsin was on the team, he even signed it. 875 00:47:17,670 --> 00:47:19,830 We published this project for a treaty 876 00:47:19,830 --> 00:47:21,140 and sent it off to the leaders 877 00:47:21,140 --> 00:47:23,500 of all the republics to be ratified. 878 00:47:23,500 --> 00:47:25,990 And behind my back, Yeltsin was preparing 879 00:47:25,990 --> 00:47:27,623 the Belovezha Agreements. 880 00:47:30,090 --> 00:47:32,720 Indeed on the 8th of December, 1991 881 00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:34,490 in the hunting lodge of Belovezha 882 00:47:34,490 --> 00:47:36,770 in the middle of the Belovezh Forest, 883 00:47:36,770 --> 00:47:39,400 Boris Yeltsin secretly assembled the presidents 884 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:41,010 of Belarus and Ukraine. 885 00:47:41,010 --> 00:47:44,263 Stanislav Shushkevich and Leonid Kravchuk. 886 00:47:44,263 --> 00:47:47,490 (upbeat music) 887 00:47:47,490 --> 00:47:50,530 The idea was to sign a new political and economic Alliance 888 00:47:50,530 --> 00:47:52,880 with them to ruin Gorbachev's own treaty 889 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:56,313 and further undermine his function as president of the USSR. 890 00:47:58,740 --> 00:48:01,340 Without Yeltsin and without the part played 891 00:48:01,340 --> 00:48:03,330 by and Belarus and Ukraine, 892 00:48:03,330 --> 00:48:05,210 there wouldn't have been a disintegration of USSR, 893 00:48:05,210 --> 00:48:06,980 it's as simple as that. 894 00:48:06,980 --> 00:48:08,890 And if there hadn't been a disintegration, 895 00:48:08,890 --> 00:48:10,860 there would have been a recreation of the old regime 896 00:48:10,860 --> 00:48:13,010 along the age, old principles, we all know. 897 00:48:15,860 --> 00:48:18,480 Mikhail Gorbachev had lost everything. 898 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,120 He drank the bitter cup down to the dregs. 899 00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:24,840 On the 21st of December at Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan, 900 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,140 11 republics joined the CIS, 901 00:48:27,140 --> 00:48:29,943 the new economic union created by Yeltsin. 902 00:48:31,410 --> 00:48:34,230 They thus signed the death warrant of the USSR, 903 00:48:34,230 --> 00:48:35,843 which had become an empty shell. 904 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:39,533 Gobarchev vanished. 905 00:48:44,350 --> 00:48:46,650 We spent half of our time worrying 906 00:48:46,650 --> 00:48:49,603 about the future of the USSR, that's enough. 907 00:48:54,790 --> 00:48:56,370 When you're born a hare, 908 00:48:56,370 --> 00:49:00,043 you will never turn into a wolf or a lion, understand? 909 00:49:02,700 --> 00:49:05,620 Whatever the mentality and intellect of that hare, 910 00:49:05,620 --> 00:49:07,003 it will remain a hare. 911 00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:14,910 A wolf or a lion may not have much intellect, 912 00:49:14,910 --> 00:49:17,670 but they can in a split second, 913 00:49:17,670 --> 00:49:19,373 tear your throat with their teeth. 914 00:49:25,353 --> 00:49:26,940 It gives an idea of the relationship 915 00:49:26,940 --> 00:49:28,683 between the Yeltsin and Gorbachev. 916 00:49:33,783 --> 00:49:38,140 Yelsin, it's true, was a very capable man, 917 00:49:38,140 --> 00:49:40,303 his only fault, he drank. 918 00:49:41,610 --> 00:49:45,083 If you came to see him before noon, for example, 919 00:49:45,970 --> 00:49:47,603 he would talk to you normally, 920 00:49:49,493 --> 00:49:52,903 but in the afternoon, he was drunk. 921 00:49:55,110 --> 00:49:58,460 And if the vodka wasn't cool, 922 00:49:58,460 --> 00:50:00,373 he would shout at his assistants, 923 00:50:01,637 --> 00:50:04,887 "Why isn't this damn vodka cool?" 924 00:50:09,620 --> 00:50:12,423 Yeltsin is a clever and brave person, 925 00:50:14,620 --> 00:50:19,620 even had some good ideas, but he was an adventurer. 926 00:50:23,430 --> 00:50:25,620 In the Kremlin, Gorbachev only ruled 927 00:50:25,620 --> 00:50:27,520 over the increasingly empty offices 928 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:30,563 that the adventurer Boris Yeltsin was eager to occupy. 929 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:35,030 Gorbachev, The apparatchik turned Democrat, 930 00:50:35,030 --> 00:50:38,130 who sincerely believed in reforming communism. 931 00:50:38,130 --> 00:50:39,900 The man who destroyed the fear 932 00:50:39,900 --> 00:50:43,640 that had cemented the Soviet system for more than 70 years, 933 00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:46,190 was accused by his people of cowardice 934 00:50:46,190 --> 00:50:48,263 indecision and weakness. 935 00:50:54,630 --> 00:50:59,250 But then how could such a weak man initiate Perestroika? 936 00:50:59,250 --> 00:51:00,453 Tell me. 937 00:51:02,150 --> 00:51:07,150 How could he have initiated a change in the social regime? 938 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:12,200 Glasnost, democratization, parliamentary life, 939 00:51:12,484 --> 00:51:16,110 the end of the cold war, the end of political repression, 940 00:51:16,110 --> 00:51:18,703 the end of religious repression, how? 941 00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:24,340 Tell me, you see, in what tangle of contradictions 942 00:51:24,340 --> 00:51:25,423 we were at the time? 943 00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:31,690 On the 25th of December, 1991 at 7:00 PM, 944 00:51:31,690 --> 00:51:33,590 abandoned by everyone. 945 00:51:33,590 --> 00:51:36,533 Gobarchev read out his letter of resignation. 946 00:51:38,009 --> 00:51:40,426 (soft music) 947 00:51:42,610 --> 00:51:45,383 Dear fellow countrymen and citizens. 948 00:51:47,676 --> 00:51:49,780 In view of the present situation 949 00:51:49,780 --> 00:51:52,300 with the creation of the CIS. 950 00:51:52,300 --> 00:51:55,630 I hereby cease my activity in the position 951 00:51:55,630 --> 00:51:57,393 of president of the USSR. 952 00:51:58,672 --> 00:52:01,089 (soft music) 953 00:52:07,990 --> 00:52:09,600 Mikhail Gorbachev's signature 954 00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:12,880 at the bottom of his letter of resignation was hardly dry. 955 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:15,070 When nearby over the Kremlin, 956 00:52:15,070 --> 00:52:17,623 the flag of the USSR was lowered. 957 00:52:18,670 --> 00:52:22,350 It had flown for 74 years over the largest empire 958 00:52:22,350 --> 00:52:23,763 of the 20th century. 959 00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:27,633 It was replaced by the three colors of Russia. 960 00:52:29,430 --> 00:52:33,000 Another era was opening with the promise of democracy, 961 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,663 global disarmament and respect for human rights. 962 00:52:37,950 --> 00:52:42,121 Time has passed, we know what's left of those. 963 00:52:42,121 --> 00:52:44,538 (soft music)