The upheavals of 1989 that led to the collapse of eastern Europe’s communist governments would prove to be precursors of the USSR’s own collapse, but, at the time, this was far from clear. To find out firsthand how then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev interpreted the destruction of the Berlin Wall and Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, Current Time spoke with Andrei Grachev, Gorbachev’s press secretary from August – December 1991.
Thirty years ago, on August 23, 1989, approximately 2 million people in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined hands to form a human chain more than 600 kilometers long to show their desire for independence from the Soviet Union. Current Time spoke with organizers and participants of the Baltic Way to find out how they remember this event today.
Once a restricted military zone, the town of Baltiysk on Russia's Vistula Spit is under threat from the elements and tourism.
