Word: gorbachev
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Beschloss and I were in Moscow last December researching a book we have been writing on the end of the cold war. On Dec. 14, one of Gorbachev's closest aides asked us to convey a message to James Baker, who was due in the Soviet capital the next day. The approach was less peculiar than it may sound. The Soviet Union was disintegrating; its last leader, then 11 days from resigning, was already in limbo. Gorbachev and his loyalists believed that the U.S. embassy had long since become a nest of Yeltsinites and would not be a reliable channel...
...relayed the message to the Secretary of State shortly after his arrival. The key passage expressed fear that "some people are fabricating a case against" Gorbachev and appealed to the Bush Administration to "impress on Yeltsin" that he should "not permit anything to happen that would harm the ((Soviet)) President...
Meeting with Yeltsin on Dec. 16, Baker stressed that the U.S. would "look with disfavor" on any effort to humiliate Gorbachev. Yeltsin's reply was reassuring: "Gorbachev should be treated with respect. It's about time our leaders can be retired with honor...
...months, Yeltsin seemed to be keeping his word. The Russian government provided Gorbachev with a chauffeured limousine so that he could commute from his dacha outside Moscow to a downtown office building that housed his new think tank. He also roamed the globe, raising money for various humanitarian and scholarly ventures. But in the spring Gorbachev started sniping at Yeltsin, accusing him of running the economy into the ground. The Russian President struck back by stripping Gorbachev of some of his perks...
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court opened hearings into the history of communist rule and Yeltsin's ban of the party after the coup d'etat of August 1991. As General Secretary of the party for its last six years, Gorbachev was naturally called to testify. He refused, saying he would not participate in a "political" trial, "even if I am brought to the court in handcuffs." In < retaliation, the Russian authorities have threatened to evict him from his institute and yanked his passport. Only when the Germans protested his treatment was he permitted to go to the Brandt funeral...