Is there and reporting daily. From the car twenty three this week and next on d w news. 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 map it will be much easier to get a ship if its a shape with a good shape geopolitical still for you. In the kremlin in moscow Mikhail Gorbachev was starting to realize the soviet union was falling apart. Right and then 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 also it was more than a because it was a delicious. Thanks to the one to the soviet union collapsed what really united germany was it called the chaff soft approach all reagans hardline. Approach was important but without reagans policies they would have been no go but shove your book but you never 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 and her breath taking place. On the International Stage gorbachev ended on a high note in the two plus four treaties the soviet union relinquished east germany and pave the way for a new european order europeans in general. Especially the east and west germans were grateful to him. The era of the soviet union as a superpower ended with the reunification of the two germany as. 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. The logistics 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 good feel hugo there were a lot of Hazardous Materials so we kept out of everything so you could almost piece it together these were only missions those were special russian rail cars which her 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 its 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 quick to transport you. Might have to really try to paint it as a proud army leaving germany with its head high the first time i was standing on the Parent Support the reality actually looks different its just it was nothing left of what we in west germany had learnt about the super power. Without you but they were just young men in uniforms who were much too thin they obviously hadnt been getting much food that she stood out sharply and looking at some of those guys who really thought they belong with their mothers not in the army get off your answer you know what i need in the army. And 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 Deutsche Mark had been introduced into the former east germany and banknotes were easier to transport than equipment. Defies. I know it was going on you 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 nine hundred ninety four the soviet troop withdrawal was complete. Germany paid about fifteen billion dollars each 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 the us and emotionally it was seen as a defeat. You know really im telling you a defeat not only did i understand it that way but also the bulk of the population did was just for most of. 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 top much office 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 shared ideology and some of darity. In a video interview gorbachev refused to declare a state of emergency and thereby recognize the coup. 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 go bridge off 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. Guilts and de facto was drove russia from the soviet Union Something which nobody even imagine. So history sometimes goes a bar off imagination so i think yeltsin was a very important vote in fourth and fifth 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 our c. I. S. Stun his last shift gave its was one of them. The other station a little bit of thought i had long believed it was a vision of socialism leading to communism was in itself a good one with that measures it going as long as i lived in the u. S. S. R. Yes i never as a thought it would cease to exist but most only go 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. Which is a coach so the because even just half an hour before the deal was signed i didnt believe in the end of the soviet union if the serious good sales must because thats just oil. On december twenty first one thousand nine hundred one Mikhail Gorbachev stood down and the end of the soviet union was oficial he declared. The dream of communism was now history. Gorbachev role in these events is still controversial even now. If you just did the belief that called which elf did all this because he was such a good person is fundamentally wrong but that we live in the neighborhood good a bunch of dolls award gorbachov made freedom possible full stop. In the soviet union alone he gave freedom to two hundred eighty Million People you know theyre taking the whole eastern bloc and the 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 ensured that a vast number of people emerged from a totalitarian soviet system peacefully and voluntarily which is so is that the late thought and i said yes this is jim. Thank you 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 then tegan isms had been repressed for almost seventy years. Now they came to the surface in the republic of moldova for example where moldova needs and russians came into direct conflict. The result was a new border with in 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 only recently in 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 russian such as vladimir a ton truck felt discriminated against. What it was doing it was many interpreted this rebirth of National Consciousness in their own way. Instead of cultivating its culture its uniqueness its roots and its language a repulsive nationalism arose. In the republic of moldova this nationalism expressed itself in such a way that people were judged by their origins. We live in the good in the its also like that in the baltic countries where there are citizens and noncitizens human beings and subhumans. Whats the this is exactly what happened here only in a worse way. Even though forty percent of moldovas population was russian speaking. Parliament passed the new law on languages. You romanian was declared the official language romanian not mulled over and above romania. 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 has now returned but in reality the conflict was only ever put on ice. Because now its off on alongside the russian army. 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. They attacked the barracks and cochaired. 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. No the conflict oh my im one of us nick if youd stand up i believe that this conflict had entirely different roots what gave. The divine and it just that they claimed that the moldovans wanted to prevent the spread of the russian language the business night. Well ok any other games im. Very honest i see a good deal about interest and i need muska wanted to maintain its influence in this in cotton region. Video and you know it is after all the gateway to the balkans uprightness about and i wanted to do that at any cost in my budget shot 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. There 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. Just conflict the will of those 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 growing 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 he should meet a new but you only get the book the book you propose it was as if a battered giant like gulliver gave one side a weapon then provide the other and gave support to yet another set that they would all fight against each other on the giant looked down from above also hungry and wounded but yet still stronger than all the rest of the fellows to make you feel that. It meant the so called 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 its not recognized 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 old. But 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 transnistria looks like a small soviet republic. People really all of russia and there is almost no lag negative approach and they get to seeing some of feelings to their to the Russian Russian Federation in fact there is one culture that has one language the russian on their ease. Like almost on history. Russia provided 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 on. 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 back when. 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 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 i mean what i said i would want the novel. In our village we not only have russians and moldovans but also bug ariens and belarusians all kinds of nationalities fates brought us together. We live together in friendship in the collective where we worked today its different your russian your ukrainian your ruffian your this or that or you. The new republics were also struggling with the lead to consequences of socialist planning each had always been dependent on the others and none of them could exist alone. Moldova for example was the vineyard of the soviet union moldovan wines were exported all over the u. S. S. R. From moscow to minsk from leningrad to kiev. But once moldova distanced itself from moscow business slumped in not entirely coincidentally. But it is also the book says that there do not. It was difficult to sell our products so that was most of it was no longer had the option to export. To move a zillion but we used to export to Russia Ukraine and belarus now this was no longer possible. 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 theres. You know a couple of salute. Extern do not measure that yet 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 so to the example we had the whole thing was supposed to happen in keeping with peoples lives it was. A movie in the steam store looters ruled. The method of privatization russia chose looked like lennons 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 a lot of them still got unsuitable nor the guzzlers shut your wish. 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. I would say. Yes but you know 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 we did you will of the apartments were allocated by the state though it would be with 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 bring but. Now you could if you knew how but most russians didnt know you got laid there you know. But if you were clever you could amass a fortune by buying up individually worthless about yours socalled