flâneur

The Censor Who Ended the Soviet Union

palladiummag.com · 6,519 words · saved by 1 readers

In July 1992, the Constitutional Court of the newly-minted Russian Federation convened to inquire into the activities of the Communist Party. A lawyer representing the now-disbanded organization that had ruled Russia for 80 years approached the stand for an examination of Alexander Yakovlev, the right-hand man of the Soviet Union’s last general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Formerly an elusive chief of propaganda, this was one of the most public appearances of his career, and despite his secrecy, his reputation preceded him. The lawyer began with a pointed question: “Please explain what you did to destroy the Soviet Union.” After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, accusations of betrayal followed Yakovlev for the rest of his life. Ten years later he began his memoir with a barb at his endless critics: “Yes, I am that same Yakovlev,” he wrote, assuring the reader that it was “precisely me who is the main culprit for the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGB, the army…and everythin

Dzen.ru/Alexander Yakovlev and Mikhail Gorbachev In July 1992, the Constitutional Court of the newly-minted Russian Federation convened to inquire into the activities of the Communist Party. A lawyer representing the now-disbanded organization that had ruled Russia for 80 years approached the stand for an examination of Alexander Yakovlev, the right-hand man of the Soviet Union’s last general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Formerly an elusive chief of propaganda, this was one of the most public appearances of his career, and despite his secrecy, his reputation preceded him. The lawyer began with

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