Moscow, December 25, 1991

by Conor O'Clery

  Apart from a brief period at the end of 1991, surveys show that a majority of Russians consistently regret the breakup of the Soviet Union. A nostalgia for the Soviet era develops, partly prompted by great power nationalism and partly by the notion that there were good things about the old Soviet system, such as universal education and peace among the nationalities, and that if there were hardships, they were shared by everyone.

  Despite his active opposition to the August putsch when he took to the streets to confront the putschists in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin claims that the events of 1991 tore his life apart. Today he judges Vladimir Kryuchkov, the hard-liner who organized the coup attempt and who tried to get the KGB Alpha Group to open fire on the defenders of the Russian White House in August 1991, to be a true believer in communism “for whom I have the greatest respect.”[328] In an address to the Russian Federal Assembly on April 25, 2005, Putin says, “Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century.” As reasons for saying this, he cites the tens of millions of Russians who find themselves outside Russian territory, the depreciation of individual savings, the destruction of old ideals, the disbanding of institutions, the mass poverty that became the norm, and the emergence of the oligarchs. Putin concludes, “Who could have imagined that it would simply collapse? No one saw that coming—even in their worst nightmares.”

  President Putin restores some of the symbols of the lost empire in an effort to revive national pride, pacify the restive empire loyalists, and bring stability back to the political system. He allows the Russian army again to fly the red flag, though without the hammer and sickle. He brings back, with new words, the Soviet national anthem that inspired Russians in the struggle against Nazi Germany, replacing the anthem by Mikhail Glinka favored by Yeltsin. He decrees that Independence Day (June 12, the anniversary of the Russian Supreme Soviet’s declaration of sovereignty in 1990) be renamed Russia Day, as the notion of independence places too much emphasis on the breakup of the Kremlin’s former empire. The former KGB officer also rehabilitates Felix Dzerzhinsky, whose statue was toppled outside the Lubyanka after the coup. On his orders a bust of the founder of the secret police is placed on a pedestal inside the old KGB headquarters in 2005. Putin becomes prime minister in 2008 when his second term as president expires, and he is succeeded by his protégé, Dmitry Medvedev.

  In their interaction, Gorbachev and Yeltsin broke the Communist Party’s monopoly of power, introduced Russia’s first democratic elections, provided a free press, set free the Warsaw Pact states of Eastern Europe, gave independence to once powerless Soviet republics, and ended the Cold War. That is their legacy.

  Russians today, if they can afford it, are free to live as they please, shop in modern stores, dine in elegant cafés and restaurants, emigrate and travel abroad, send their children to elite foreign schools, and freely criticize the regime in print, if not on television. At the same time the move towards Western-style democracy has stalled in the aftermath of the fall of communism, the electronic media reflects Kremlin views, courts are subservient to power, protest rallies are broken up, personal enrichment rather than ideology is the driving force in politics, the electorate is powerless to produce results the leadership doesn’t like, and the KGB has returned to the forefront of Russian life as the FSB.

  For Mikhail Gorbachev, who turned eighty on March 2, 2011, the nightmare for Russia is far from over. He protests that Russian leaders are steadily rolling back the democratic achievements of his time and that the first and only free, competitive, and honest elections ever held in Russia were those that he initiated before the end of 1991. He observes that there are still many people in society who fear democracy and prefer authoritarian stability. “We’re only halfway down the road from a totalitarian regime to democracy and freedom,” he says. “And the battle continues.”[329]

  The office in the Senate Building in the Kremlin that Gorbachev was so reluctant to leave and that Yeltsin seized in such triumph is no more. It was ripped out in a major reconstruction that took place from 1994 to 1998. The renovated Senate Building is today the ceremonial residence of the Russian president.

  Lenin’s artifacts from his former Kremlin office down the corridor have long since been removed and are now on display in his dacha at the village of Gorki Leninskiye on the outskirts of Moscow. The immense picture of Lenin’s Speech at the Third Congress, of the Komsomol, which dominated the Great Kremlin Palace for nearly half a century, has been replaced by a panorama of Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod fighting Teutonic Knights in 1242.

  For two decades the embalmed body of the founder of the communist system that Gorbachev and Yeltsin in their different ways brought crashing down on December 25, 1991, continues to repose in the Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square, preserved by glycerin and potassium acetate and kept at a temperature of 61 degrees. Queues of Russians form every day to pay their respects, and the jackbooted honor guard still springs to life to march back and forth with the precision of the figures on a Swiss clock, every hour on the hour, at the sound of the chimes from the Savior Tower, as if nothing has changed.

  Photographs

  AUGUST 19, 1991: Boris Yeltsin, flanked by his security chief Alexander Korzhakov, climbs onto a tank to defy the coup staged by communist hardliners. It is the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and of Gorbachev’ grip on power. Courtesy of Jim Forest

  NOVEMBER 1991: Yeltsin begins giving Gorbachevthe cold shoulder to emphasize hisgrowing ascendancy over him. ALAIN-PIERRE HOVASSE/AFP/Getty Images

  A rare picture of Gorbachev with his chief of staff and betrayer, Valery Boldin, on right, taken at Novo-Ogarevo during doomed discussions on a new Union. Alexander Yakovlev is in middle. Courtesy of Gorbachev Foundation

  NOVEMBER 1, 1991:Gorbachev’s last internationalevent at Middle EastConference in Madrid, wherehe is regarded by Americandelegates as “already a goner.” Courtesy of George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

  DECEMBER 7, 1991: The clock starts ticking towards December 25 as Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk, and Stanislav Shushkevich (three on right) meet in a state hunting lodge in Belarus and decide to break-up the Soviet Union. Novosti

  How can we survive? Gorbachev discusses the bleak future for the Soviet Union with aides Anatoly Chernyaev, on right, and Georgy Shakhnazarov. Courtesy of Gorbachev Foundation

  DECEMBER 21, 1991: Yeltsin in Alma-Ata with, from left, Kravchuk, Nazarbayev, and Shushkevich, as they celebrate creating the Commonwealth of Independent States to replace the Soviet Union. VITALY ARMAND/AFP/Getty Images

  DECEMBER 23, 1991: Coats off as Gorbachev and Yeltsin come together in the Kremlin for a nine-hourdiscussion on transfer of power. They will never meet again. Yeltsin’s security chief Alexander Korzhakov is behind Gorbachev. Courtesy of Gorbachev Foundation

  Russian White House: Boris Yeltsin’s power base before his takeover of the Kremlin. Canstockphoto

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Claire Shipman and Steve Hurst interview a carefully-groomed and triumphant Boris Yeltsin shortly before Gorbachev’s resignation. Courtesy of Stuart H. Loory

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Mikhail Gorbachev walks to his Kremlin office accompanied by Ted Koppel of ABC. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Happy Christmas, dear George! Mikhail Gorbachev calls President Bush for emotional farewell minutes before his resignation. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Pavel Palazchenko interprets during telephone conversation between Gorbachev and President Bush—who does not realize ABC’s Ted Koppel is listening in. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Andrey Grachev leads Gorbachev from real to mock presidential office for resignation speech. Courtesy of Andrey Grachev

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Grachev passes Johnson’s Mont Blanc ballpoint to Gorbachev when official Soviet pen runs dry. Courtesy of Tom Johnson

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Gorbachev signs resignation documents before his speech rather than after, catching television crews unawares
. VITALY ARMAND/AFP/Getty Images

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: “If you have to go, you have to go. It’s that time.” Nothing left for Gorbachev but to end his activities as Soviet president. Courtesy of Stuart H. Loory

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Gorbachev closing the file on his speech and his presidency. Liu Heung Shing’s celebrated photograph earns him a thump from a Kremlin security guard and helps AP win the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Associated Press

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Yegor Yakovlev, on right, prepares Gorbachev for post-resignation interview. Courtesy of Tom Johnson

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Muscovites watching broadcast of Gorbachev’s resignation speech on railway station television set. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Kremlin officials lower red flag from Senate Dome for last time. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Kremlin officials gather in red flag. ABC Television

  DECEMBER 25, 1991: Kremlin worker takes bundled-up red flag to storage basement. Courtesy of Stuart H. Loory

  Pen used by Gorbachev to end Soviet Union on display in Newseum in Washington. Courtesy Tom Johnson

  Gorbachev’s apartment building in Lenin Hills from which he was evicted the day he resigned. Author

  DECEMBER 26, 1991: Gorbachev’s official portrait being disposed of by official in St. Petersburg. Novosti

  Yeltsin meets Bush shortly after his triumph over Gorbachev, and at last becomes a member of the club of world leaders. Courtesy George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

  Senate Building today with new Russian flag flying above Gorbachev’s former Kremlin office, now ceremonial residence of President Medvedev. Author

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