MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Twenty years later a “divisive line” exists between Russia and the West

Mitterrand loved so much the Germans he liked to have two Germanys

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall a “divisive line” exists between Russia and the West because of mistakes committed following the end of the Cold War, regrets former Soviet Union leader Mijail Gorbachev in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País.

In the weekend interview he also revealed details of the objections (and fears) from France and Britain to the reunification of Germany following the fall of the Wall.

“In 1989 the Council of Europe said that this continent should be our common home and not a theatre for bellicose actions. But we lost a great opportunity following the Cold War and again another divisive line appeared”, pointed out the Nobel Prize.

However Gorbachev said that Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and US president Barack Obama have recovered the principles for “a Common European House extending from Vancouver to Vladivostok”-

“I don’t like when Medvedev puts on the hard-liner mask; it’s not necessary” said the former Soviet leader who described the current leader at the Kremlin as “a man of democratic convictions” who wishes a “united Europe and that we should all join efforts with the US, because in solitary nobody is going to solve any of the global challenges”.

As to Obama, Gorbachev said he followed closely his campaign “and I liked it very much. He has the same democratic convictions that motivated me, and for him also changes have matured”.

“In that sense there’s a parallelism with perestroika” he underlined.

As to the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, twenty years ago Gorbachev recalled the objections from French president Francois Mitterrand and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“Mitterrand said he loved the Germans so much he liked to have two Germanys and Mrs. Thatcher was very scared of the idea on an only Germany”. However they later signed the agreements and did not express their dissent.

“Germany is indeed an economic power, you can feel it, but it’s not a threat and behaves most responsibly in international affairs and world politics”, said Gorbachev.