G. W. Once upon a time there was a country the largest in the world in fact it was an empire it was called the soviet union shortly before its seventieth birthday it vanished from the math skills to. Just be a shape a shape with a good religion get the best overview. In the kremlin in moscow Mikhail Gorbachev was starting to realize the soviet union was falling apart. Right gorbachev couldnt stop this process it was turning out differently from the way hed expected and was taking on a life of its own i dont believe that he intended the soviet union to disintegrate the soviet union fell apart mainly because the baltic republics wanted to leave when they left everyone else saw that it could be done and wanted to do it too as it was more than it was it was a delicious. Thank goodness with all that why did the soviet union collapsed what really united germany was it called the chuff soft approach or reagans hardline gorbachevs approach was important but without reagans policies they would have been no go but off your book but that would do it. Mr gorbachev oh but its ok. Yeah and the truth is the soviet union lost because the us was so intractable that the. The gates were opened the berlin wall fell and moscows empire contracted at our breathtaking base. On the International Stage gorbachev ended on a high note in the two plus four treaties the soviet union relinquished east germany and paved the way for a new european order europeans in general but especially the east and west germans were grateful to in. The era of the soviet. Union as a superpower ended with the reunification of the two germanys. The retreat began. Moscow pulled five hundred thousand soviet soldiers out of east germany along. The group of soviet armed forces in germany was the largest Permanent Army ever stationed by an occupation force abroad. Religious tix needed to get them back home or just as fast. Poland had also broken with moscow so most of the troops left germany via the ferry port of new kron on the Baltic Island of will again. Observers follow the huge enterprise with great interest nobody knew exactly what weapons the soviet army had kept in east germany. As far and feel as if he had hugo there were a lot of Hazardous Materials so we kept out of everything so you could almost piece it together these were in the missions those were special russian rail cars which were somewhat larger than normal but enclosed. And when they passed through then you knew there was a rocket inside or maybe there wasnt like you didnt go off like a kind of like. The soviet withdrawal gave me a cry on a much needed boost. As one of east germanys last big transportation projects the port had been built specifically for trade with the soviet union and the collapse of comiccon and left it largely idle. When they decided to use the move around ferry and port to ship a forty three percent in other words almost half of the military transports to the soviet union it had an enormous significance for the port especially for the Railway Workers and ship crews is copy they had to work again there was something to do and the ships were turning around in an unbroken forty eight hour cycle to transport this huge military machine back to the east so we. Can learn how to really try to paint it as a proud army leaving germany with its head high the first time i was standing on the spirit of port the reality actually looks different its just it was nothing left of what we in the west germany had learnt about the superpower. But they were just young men in uniforms who were much to feign they obviously hadnt been getting much food that cheekbones stood out sharply and looking at some of those guys they really thought they belong with their mothers not in the army get off your answer from what i knew in the army. The word went out that soviet army bases across the country everything can go of course it wasnt official but under the counter in good old socialist style. The deutschmark had been introduced into the former east germany and banknotes were easier to transport than equipment. If i just just i know it was going on he said ok a kalashnikov you can get one for a hundred marks. The soldiers were facing a journey into the unknown. The soviet union they had come from was disintegrating. On august thirty first one thousand nine hundred four the soviet troop withdrawal was complete. Germany paid about fifteen billion dollars marks to cover its cost but the price that moscow paid was far greater. Until then the Heroic Soviet Army had been seen as a symbol of the empires power and grander. It would soon learn that there were so emotionally it was seen as a defeat. Really im telling you a defeat not only did i understand it that way but also the bulk of the population did just for. The empire wasnt only disintegrating at its edges it was also tearing itself apart internally Mikhail Gorbachev had wanted to give the republics more autonomy. In the summer of one nine hundred ninety one orthodox communists including the soviet unions own minister of defense mounted a coup against coverage often surrounding the Russian Parliament with tanks. Citizens turned down to stop them. The coup plotters held gorbachev captive for three days and his holiday home in crimea the country was dissolving as were the values that had held it together the army a shared ideology and song a darity. In a video interview gorbachev refused to declare a state of emergency and thereby recognize that. The newly elected president of the russian socialist soviet republic Boris Yeltsin went out and managed to persuade the insurgents to return to their barracks. His success made him the new strongman in moscow and he lost no time in upping the ante. He undermined gorbachev in public interrupted him during a speech to parliament on august twenty third one nine hundred ninety one and treated him like a child and then to cap it all he did something nobody had expected. Fields and de facto was drool russia from the soviet Union Something which nobody even imagine. So history has sometimes goes a bar off imagination so i think yeltsin was a very important vote in full view of. The end of the soviet union was sealed when the heads of state of Russia Ukraine and belarus signed the agreement establishing the commonwealth of independent states are c. I. S. Stun his last shift davids was one of them. You know theres this little bit of thought i had long believed it was a vision of socialism leading to communism was in itself a good one was that measures a going as long as i lived in the u. S. S. R. As i never as a thought it would cease to exist to most a league of the us but those. Were nine other soviet republics joined the c. I. S. The soviet union was practically left as a state without territory. It is up to the because even just hoffer now before the deal was signed i didnt believe in the end of the soviet union mistook serious good sales most because thats just on. Monday summer twenty first one thousand nine hundred one Mikhail Gorbachev stood down and the end of the soviet union was officially declared. The dream of communism was now history. Gorbachevs role in these events is still controversial even now. If you just get the belief that call the child did all this because he was such a good person is fundamentally wrong it would have it the new blood good a bunch of dolls a war gorbachev made freedom possible full stock. In the soviet union alone he gave freedom to two hundred eighty Million People you know taking the whole eastern bloc and gave freedom to around half a billion people. Whether he did so consciously or unconsciously is another matter. But he did something tremendous something historic. His policies ensure that a vast number of people emerged from a totalitarian soviet system peacefully and voluntarily. Is that the late thought and i say yes because. The story of the country that wanted to change the world ended just before it seventieth birthday. One nation was suddenly fifteen. Fifteen former soviet republics whose National Characteristics and antagonisms had been repressed for almost seventy years. Now they came to the surface in the republic of moldova for example where moldova and send russians came into direct conflict. The result was a new border within moldova itself which was heavily guarded and could only be crossed with a visa. The fourteenth formerly soviet now russian army played an Important Role in its creation. It was stationed in the city of terraced boy and it stayed there in spite of moldovas declaration of independence the russians were now foreigners on foreign territory but it only recently been their home. The conflict was sparked by a dispute over the official language of the new state russian the unifying language of the Old Soviet Union was to be replaced by romanian russians such as vladimir a ton truck felt discriminated against. What it was you know many interpreted this rebirth of National Consciousness in their own way. Instead of cultivating its culture its uniqueness its roots and its language. Nationalism arose. In the republic of moldova but this nationalism expressed itself in such a way that people were judged by their origins. Its also like that in the baltic countries. There are citizens and noncitizens are human beings and subhuman. Whats this is exactly what happened here only in a worse way. Even though forty percent of moldovas population was russian speaking parliament passed a new law on languages. Romanian was declared the official language romanian not mel dolphin but romanian. Writing changed from cyrillic to latin script that meant a majority of the population which did not know the latin script became practically illiterate. Start when you had. The confrontation over the official language exploded into violence and the fourteenth russian army intervened transnistria the part of moldova where it was stationed split off and remained russian speaking. A thousand people died in the fighting along the new stair in the spring and summer of one thousand nine hundred two peace is now returned but in reality the conflict was only ever put on ice. Cause now its off on a long sign the russian army. Will stop. The fighting began on march second and four boys were immediately killed this is where they are buried the commander of the battalion is also buried here. Because they attacked the barracks and cochaired as it was the soldiers there one thousand year old boys were outnumbered. Basically the conflict was artificially blown out of proportion. Neither they nor we wanted this war but when a war began and see every day of fighting sets peace back at least a year not. The case of transnistria is just one example of the numerous conflicts that erupted between the peoples of the former soviet union. The common values of the soviet years counted for little in those wild times. New War Memorials constantly joined the old ones often adorned with the red stars. Russia whose fear of influence was continually shrinking was always involved. The conflict in one of us nick. I believe that this conflict had entirely different routes one gave. The divine and they claimed that the mold of ns wanted to prevent the spread of the russian language the business night. But again im. Very honest. About interest and moscow wanted to maintain its influence in this important region. Video and you know it is after all the gateway to the balkans uprightness and i wanted to do that at any cost but its not if this was the time. Transnistria was no isolated case. Everywhere in the early one nine hundred ninety s. Regional conflicts flared up and russia intervened in nearly all of them in chechnya georgia and the caucasus. They were micro states where almost the entire male population was under arms and decades and sometimes centuries old conflict flared up again. In chechnya for instance the chechens could live with being soviets but after the soviet unions demise they suddenly belong to russia and the chechens had never wanted to be russian. In the first few years following the disintegration of the soviet union more than thirty thousand people were killed in violent civil wars. This conflict the will of those that there were many conflicts that we inherited from the soviet union. I mean the conflicts and to take a stand about. South ossetia and a gun a car about. And we had internal fighting in chechnya. There was a transit history a conflict. Everywhere russia intervened as a peacemaker with the aim of resolving these conflicts conflict that we should we have new good youll do the work with the people it was as if a battered giant like gulliver gave one side a weapon then provide the other and gave support to yet another said that they would all fight against each other on the giant looked down from above but also hungry and wounded but yet still stronger than all the rest of the fellow in the if you hear them. Good men the socalled wars or former soviet republics have never managed to stand on their own two feet. The small republic of moldova remained completely dependent on russia in the one nine hundred ninety s. It was one of europes poorest regions. Transnistria which has only five hundred thousand inhabitants is not recognised by any state in the world it remains a russian outpost. And it still has its statue of lenin. My name is. Im twenty six years. After this time chairwoman of the and joe engine subversion all development of transnistria i think for me i have no idea now does all of this process we just go and groan transnistria now what will be our future but i hope it will be. Better that it is now like because im very good like i am very optimistic person. She sees herself as a sort of ambassador for russia the whole of transister your looks like a small soviet republic. People really a lot of russia and there is almost no lag negative approach and negative seeing set of feelings to there to the Russia Russian Federation in fact there is one culture that has one language the russian one their ease. Like almost fun history. Russia provide for this time a lot of a lot of assistance. The existence of transnistria is based on the old pillars of the soviet union the army a common language and a policy of dependency. Moscow pays for part of the pensions of transnistria and retirees which certainly doesnt harm their love for russia. Many of them long for the good old days that. John as a grandmother is a typical example. Moves. When you look at a hand for example you have five fingers with five fingers its easier to take or carry something try doing the same with one finger. The soviet union was like a single powerful hand like today its different all that is gone. Everyone pulls in his own direction everyone has his own household i dont like this was never going to happen again but many people of her generation see only disadvantages in the way things are now and advantages in the way things work and the soviet system of values is still hanging on. Already. But i thought i would warn. You in our village we not only have russians and moldovans but also bug ariens and belarusians all kinds of nationalities phage brought us together. We live together in friendship in the collective where we worked today its different your russian your ukrainian. Your this or that or you. The new republics were also struggling with the deal lead to consequences of socialist planning each had always been dependant on the others and none of them could exist alone. Moldova for example was the vineyard of the soviet union mode of unwinds were exported all over the u. S. S. R. From moscow to minsk from leningrad to kiev. But once motiva distanced itself from moscow business slumped in not entirely coincidentally. But it is also the book says that they do not. It was difficult to sell our products as was. No longer had the option to export. Moves in but we used to export to Russia Ukraine and belarus now this was no longer possible business and you know. The old planned economy the Economic Foundation of the soviet union crumbled and has hindered the development of free markets to this day. Many of the new states trying to implement a free market economy but they had no experience of anything like it at the beginning of the ninetys everything ground to a halt. Even in russia. You a couple of salute. Extended that means that it was an incredibly difficult task he is and we wanted to move step by step from a systematically organized system to a market economy going again. And the whole thing was supposed to happen in keeping with peoples lives it was. Movie me and the steam stooges ruled. The method of privatization russia chose looked like lenins last bright idea. Each citizen received a share of the Common Property the factories and collective farms created during the soviet era vouchers and stock certificates were distributed. But the idea was doomed to failure. For poor mr peter hore to scott school but a quick transition to fairy tales happens only in fairy tales in reality it doesnt work that the individual elements of the market were shocking for people who grew up in a socialist system because of so got on cyril annoyed the guzzlers. The former soviet citizens couldnt do anything with the vouchers because their value meant nothing to them. So they gave them away or exchange them often in return for daily necessities or they invested in stocks without knowing what was behind them. The world says. In the soviet union people really didnt understand why they had to make money. No matter how much money they had they still couldnt buy an apartment anyway. The apartments were allocated by the state though it would be you no matter how much money you had you couldnt buy property or an apartment for your daughter not even a car. And you could but you. Know you could if you knew how but most russians didnt know that way of you know where you are but if you were clever you could amass a fortune by buying up individually worthless vouchers socalled businessmen often from the old nomenclature tura had a field day. In the gray area between shrewdness and criminality they laid the foundation. As for incredible wealth and social influence the oligarchs appear what was supposed to be a Classless Society was becoming the very opposite. Just on the premier of limits and yet i mean it was no secret that the largest shareholders in a company were often their former managers. We call them red directors. Anyone who managed a Large Industrial enterprise in the soviet union which as a rule became its owner during privatization when my. This person would be well acquainted with the company. And could take it over with little effort which is just. One of thems going to say so there is something to. Post soviet society was tilting out of balance the old communists wanted to stop the privatisation and rebelled against piracy had seen. Nationalists and populists like bloody me as your enough ski who wanted to resurrect the old russia attracted more and more followers the Russian Parliament sometime started to resemble a carnival boxing match. But the measure and off skiing ran for president in one nine hundred ninety three and almost seemed to have a chance of winning. Weve got a democracy was a lie it is the elections were fake privatisation was robberies crime it spirals it was shared banditry all the bad things in the world were thrown and our country thats why the population today the democrats so much the a democrat. In one thousand nine hundred three the reformists who had been elected to parliament before the disintegration of the soviet union tried to launch a coup against bars he had seen. He had seen responded by bombing the parliament building. This unprecedented move kept him in power. But the next elections were approaching and yeltsin had few successes to show. He was a reader the threat of the communist would regard to. And there was no invite him out how to avoid that. Yeltsin has been tossed from the side of the support of the dogs who offered money for their support and for the compassion in exchange they gave loans to groups in exchange for shares. The same process. This was when the oregon arks took over the real power in the kremlin. These rich man paid for yeltsins Election Campaign and after he won they got their rewards high office in the government and especially great influence on yeltsin. His power waned and he became little more than a puppet. He only listened to those who constantly told him what a genius he was. That he was on the same level as clinton and stature. Or that he would be admitted to the g. Seven or g. Eight. Thats why he conducted that orchestra in germany when he was drunk and after hed been to america for the first time he said on t. V. I flew around the statue of liberty twice so im quite as free. During his second term in office yeltsin was increasingly ridiculed as some sort of clumsy dancing bear. He had become politically irrelevant. Has to be in the west village it was new to the girl and slowly it became like it was in the byzantine empire with intrigues and nepotism and strange arrangements and crooked deals which had nothing to do with the people nor with the government. Somehow comical characters suddenly started making the important decisions. In what has been in the existing. Better rose was one of the most important soviet republics one of the four founding republics of the u. S. S. R. And one of the three where Nuclear Weapons were stationed. Today minsk is the capital of the republic of belarus its a city full of red flags and it looks as if the soviet union had never been away. Sonny soft is now a pensioner in minsk his fate is a metaphor for the way the states of the former soviet union have changed. You know nothing of the other. Yes. Once he acted on the world stage. He talked to bill clinton. And negotiated with the powerful. Today he doesnt even get enough to live on as your inability to visit that its yours and today i received a pension of thirty year a sense that. It was supposed to amount to seventy five percent of the salary of the president of parliament the supreme soviet. Bought out harlem and changed its name. As though there is no supreme soviet anymore well that was that ago although soviet i view the holo soviet and yet. When he became the first head of state in bell arose in one nine hundred ninety one church gave each wanted to orient his country westwards and move it from a planned to a free market economy as quickly as possible. As he had learned from the chair noble disaster lies and delusions do nothing for a countrys fortunes. With her sleep with you we needed a new beginning and took the correct a logical route that poland also took we wanted to privatized our economy everything had to belong to the states and we wanted our citizens to be part of it because they had nothing back then but its a very difficult process that can never be completely fat with privately. He quickly found out how difficult it was to broker reform to people who mourn with the soviet union and glorified its memory. The communists in his government blocked his reforms. In one thousand nine hundred three they succeeded in removing him from office through accusations of corruption and it later turned out to be false. The man behind the allegations was alexander look i go. Look at the witches they had to discredit me. Is that why all of our propagandists have portrayed me as a corrupt man who didnt actually do anything apart from steel what solution is and you mustnt. In one thousand nine hundred four Alexander Lukashenko was elected president and has been in power ever since. He pushed through constitutional changes to allow him self more than two terms in office. Look at his moscows closest ally. He read nationalized Many Private Companies and in the mid one nine hundred ninety s. Looked as if he would resurrect the old style soviet union including its official language. As dictatorial not sure that his bella russian is worse than his russian years ago so he needs two official languages im sure hes a course badly educated dictator if theyre going to think that at the group where mullah brazil effect of. Opposition is largely for britain in belarus. In the one nine hundred ninety s. Just gave rich stood as a candidate for a new party but he didnt stand a chance. At that time he still hoped to supplant the old values with new ones. It was a vain hope. Ok. The overwhelming majority of people in belarus support democratic principles our leadership only came to power with russias help. He would belittle is there has to be if he does what he wants and everyone else shuts up and accept that. If they object he removes them from the fi trough and a fast buck but the west doesnt understand that were not a state based on law and order and that the way to becoming one has been blocked were not a country where the government is democratically elected and we were moving towards it but then we were stopped. In. The will of the liquid a bottomless no number. So at least russia got one ally back but in the mid ninetys it was still mired in crisis barres yeltsin had become the end to this is of a strong man and was spending more time in hospital than in the kremlin. Ordinary russians were worse off than ever after the great ruble crisis in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine he had since stepped down in the middle of his second term of office. To a year. Or so you know yes i wish i. Were young but i see yeah yeah. Well stuff. The new top dog in the kremlin was to be ensigns Prime MinisterVladimir Putin putin quickly adopted the image of a few loose fighter and enjoys appearing in public in front of military symbols. I have the impression that president putins personality is a combination of peter the great and stalin. He wants to turn russia which could actually be a Free Democratic and prosperous republic into an empire again as it was in the days of the czars in the soviet union. Is that. On the whole like question that shows up but the longer the west puts up with his arms its. The bloodier the end will be. And the bloodier any attempt to stop him. Because the. Put an aside a thousand times that we do not want to attack or threaten anyone and as ive already said europe has been attacking us for a thousand years but we have never attacked anyone. Who certainly acts like a man who is capable of attack he gets his nickname nimitz the german from his years as a secret Service Operative in east germany he knows the mechanisms of power and believes that the pillars on which the soviet union rested havent been lost forever. Reassured and anxious at the same time all eyes are turned to moscow where the lights are back on in the kremlin. Enjoy the fresh sea air. And soak up some sunshine on zoeth. The island off germanys north sea coast boasts beaches perfect for long strong unique Natural Beauty and classic maritime cuisine. Those are always worth a visit. In thirty minutes one day w. Listening and that day w because i may speak your language think about that. For content in dari pashto and order prospects for returning our web special to the refugee journeys of life germany and the prospects for those returning home. Join the discussion on t w dot com and on facebook. Prospects for returning news d w may for mine. Every journey begins with the first step and every language of the first word i wish because niko hes in germany to learn german. Business just why not run with him. Its simple online on euro mile and for a. New stuff. D w z learning course goes weak. Made easy. This is deja vu news live from berlin a powerful earthquake has struck the border area between iran and iraq more than four hundred people have been killed and thousands more injured relief efforts are underway in both countries the number of dead is expected to rise as rescuers dig through the rubble also coming up