:00:03. > :00:06.Now it is time for our World. We chart the downfall of Mikhail
:00:06. > :00:16.Gorbachev and the events that led to the break-up of the once-mighty
:00:16. > :00:21.empire. The revolution was swept away by
:00:21. > :00:29.the pace of his own reforms. The Kremlin leader who started out a
:00:29. > :00:35.master of compromise and ended up its victim. 20 years on, the Inside
:00:35. > :00:42.story Of Gorbachev's downfall and the demolition of the Soviet empire.
:00:42. > :00:48.TRANSLATION: It was a struggle for life and death.
:00:48. > :00:58.TRANSLATION: As a politician I lost what I could have won if I had been
:00:58. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:28.prepared to use force. I refused. I stuck to my principles. By the
:01:29. > :01:35.early 1990s, simmering tensions were erupting into a crisis across
:01:35. > :01:42.the Soviet Union. Reform supporters were pushing Mikhail Gorbachev to
:01:42. > :01:47.go faster but opponents were also uniting against him.
:01:47. > :01:51.(CHANTING). That enormous white building across
:01:51. > :01:55.the Moscow river is exactly what it looks like - the imposing
:01:55. > :01:59.headquarters of somebody very high up and important. Vladimir Putin,
:01:59. > :02:03.the most powerful politician in Russia. 20 years ago it was
:02:03. > :02:07.something very different. It was the centre of the resistance to the
:02:07. > :02:14.attempted coup that tried to topple Mikhail Gorbachev and reverse his
:02:14. > :02:18.reforms. (CHANTING).
:02:18. > :02:27.Resentment of Moscow's control over the Soviet republic was growing.
:02:27. > :02:31.One by one, they were demanding more freedom. In Lithuania, one of
:02:31. > :02:38.the three Baltic republics, the parliament defiantly declared its
:02:38. > :02:44.independence. Gorbachev, who let Eastern European nations decide
:02:44. > :02:50.their own fate, refused to give them the same right.
:02:50. > :02:54.TRANSLATION: The Baltic states are part of the Soviet Union. Anyway,
:02:54. > :03:01.to resolve the issue, seceding from the Soviet Union, we agreed there
:03:01. > :03:09.should be special mechanism for leaving. But not through trembling
:03:09. > :03:19.on all of our laws or rewriting them. No. -- trampling. He really
:03:19. > :03:26.
:03:26. > :03:29.did not understand the full force of nationalism. But the Soviet
:03:29. > :03:34.Foreign Minister had told the Americans of his worst fears some
:03:34. > :03:38.years earlier. He said - if we don't change our policies, that
:03:38. > :03:45.could be the end of the Soviet Union. I never thought I would
:03:45. > :03:55.heard the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union told the United States
:03:55. > :03:59.
:03:59. > :04:04.that his country could be doomed. Gorbachev's problems were many. He
:04:04. > :04:07.had given hardliners key positions in his government. His friends and
:04:07. > :04:17.Foreign Minister deserted him, warning of an impending
:04:17. > :04:17.
:04:17. > :04:23.dictatorship. TRANSLATION: It was the shortest
:04:23. > :04:33.speech I ever made. I said they were preparing to take over power
:04:33. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:48.with who knows what consequences. We will all be in danger and to
:04:48. > :05:06.
:05:06. > :05:11.register my protest I am resigning right now. for the very people
:05:11. > :05:21.commit economic upheaval was making life unbearable. -- Fawdon Mary
:05:21. > :05:24.people. Gorbachev took the brunt of their rage. He said there was a
:05:24. > :05:29.food shortage in Moscow and people were queuing for bread and they had
:05:29. > :05:33.been queuing for a long time and were getting very irritated. One
:05:33. > :05:40.man turned in the queue and said to his neighbour - I am fed up with
:05:40. > :05:44.this, I blame Gorbachev. I am going to kill Gorbachev, and off he went.
:05:44. > :05:50.He came back a few days later and they ask him, did you kill
:05:50. > :05:55.Gorbachev? No, he replied, the queue to kill Gorbachev was just
:05:55. > :06:00.too long. There was another political threat to his power.
:06:00. > :06:06.Gorbachev had created for himself the post of Soviet President to
:06:06. > :06:16.bolster his weakening power. The Russian power called elections for
:06:16. > :06:35.
:06:35. > :06:41.its own Russian President. Boris Yeltsin, a former protege of
:06:41. > :06:51.Gorbachev, won by a landslide. Suddenly, instead of one, there
:06:51. > :06:58.
:06:58. > :07:04.were two contenders to the Kremlin throne. The West tried to court
:07:04. > :07:10.them both. Gorbachev is still resentful.
:07:10. > :07:13.TRANSLATION: They even entered into secret agreements with Yeltsin. The
:07:13. > :07:23.British and the Americans know about that. Particularly the
:07:23. > :07:26.
:07:26. > :07:29.Americans. We didn't make any deals with Boris Yeltsin. We recognise
:07:29. > :07:34.the fact that Gorbachev was still the President of the Soviet Union.
:07:34. > :07:44.We were meeting with him. We also met with the opposition. We would
:07:44. > :07:48.
:07:48. > :07:53.meet with Yeltsin as well. Both he and Yeltsin were reformers,
:07:53. > :08:03.Gorbachev wish to reform socialism and yachts and wish to destroy it.
:08:03. > :08:09.They wanted different relationships with the West -- Nelson. In January
:08:09. > :08:14.1991 the hardline KGB defence ministers in Gorbachev's government
:08:14. > :08:21.ordered an attack on the breakaway Lithuanian Republic, testing the
:08:21. > :08:31.waters for a crackdown. It was not clear how much Gorbachev knew. Now
:08:31. > :08:37.he admits he was sidelined. TRANSLATION: I never gave them
:08:37. > :08:41.permission to impose my shawl or presidential rule. -- martial law.
:08:41. > :08:51.They took that decision. People don't realise that the terrible
:08:51. > :08:55.thing was that I didn't know. Americans were horrified. The
:08:55. > :09:02.American ambassador went to the Kremlin to protest. Up to ask
:09:02. > :09:06.Gorbachev or was going on. Gorbachev said, tell me, had you
:09:06. > :09:16.assess the situation? I said, Mr President, I no longer understand
:09:16. > :09:21.we were going. He listened carefully and then he said - please,
:09:21. > :09:31.please explain to you President this country is on the brink of
:09:31. > :09:32.
:09:32. > :09:42.civil war. And I must do, as President, all I can to prevent
:09:42. > :09:51.
:09:51. > :09:57.that. That means I'm going to have to zig-zag. The assault on
:09:57. > :10:07.Lithuania failed, rebuffed by popular assistance. They still
:10:07. > :10:17.commemorate the event every year. It was an ominous sign that a power
:10:17. > :10:25.
:10:25. > :10:29.struggle over who should rule the Soviet Union was imminent. By the
:10:29. > :10:34.summer of 1991 the public mood was becoming angry. At the annual May
:10:34. > :10:39.Day parade, the crowd in Moscow's Red Square jeered at Gorbachev.
:10:39. > :10:46.Members of his government next to him on the podium were privately
:10:46. > :10:49.scheming against him. TRANSLATION: We saw in Gorbachev
:10:49. > :10:58.someone who was incapable of governing, we were quite convinced
:10:58. > :11:07.of this. The Americans heard rumours that a coup was being
:11:07. > :11:11.planned to oust Gorbachev. It was Boris Yeltsin's idea. I told him it
:11:11. > :11:21.was more than a rumour. It could happen at any time. He actually
:11:21. > :11:22.
:11:22. > :11:26.laughed and said something about naive Americans. By early August
:11:26. > :11:31.1991, Gorbachev decided to join forces with his arch rival, Boris
:11:32. > :11:36.Yeltsin. They struck a deal in a secret meeting.
:11:36. > :11:39.TRANSLATION: We agreed that Yeltsin would stay in Russia as he was the
:11:39. > :11:43.elected President, and Gorbachev would be Union President and we
:11:43. > :11:51.would get rid of all those who were putting spokes in the wheels. Then
:11:51. > :11:55.we named them, the people we were talking about. What Gorbachev
:11:55. > :12:04.didn't realise was that the very hardliners he was planning to get
:12:04. > :12:08.rid of had secretly used the KGB to record the conversation. His deal
:12:09. > :12:14.with Yeltsin backfired. His enemies, including his own for vice-
:12:14. > :12:19.president, defence and K G B chiefs decided to act at once and stage a
:12:19. > :12:29.coup against him. TRANSLATION: our goal was to
:12:29. > :12:32.convince him that it was essential to declare a state of emergency.
:12:32. > :12:42.Not necessarily in the whole country but wherever it was
:12:42. > :13:02.
:13:02. > :13:06.required. It was threatening to destroy the Soviet Union.
:13:06. > :13:12.plotters sent a delegation to come from Gorbachev at his villa by the
:13:12. > :13:18.Black Sea. At a meeting they presented him with their ultimatum.
:13:18. > :13:22.TRANSLATION: I even swore at them. I said go and convened a Congress
:13:22. > :13:30.and we will see whose plan gets more support, yours or mine. In the
:13:30. > :13:39.end they left empty handed. I think they got drunk on the way.
:13:39. > :13:43.Reporting back by Gorbachev had refused. Refused what? Refused to
:13:43. > :13:53.sign the order delegating my powers to the vice-president due to the
:13:53. > :14:01.
:14:01. > :14:11.poor state of my help. What lies. - - my health. In Moscow, tanks
:14:11. > :14:23.
:14:23. > :14:31.State television and radio announced that Gorbachev was ill
:14:31. > :14:40.and an emergency committee was now in charge. It looked as though the
:14:40. > :14:44.old, terrifying Soviet dictatorship was back. Boris Yeltsin managed to
:14:44. > :14:51.hide in the Russian parliament to avoid arrest and appealed to the
:14:51. > :14:55.outside world for help. We managed to get through to him on the
:14:55. > :15:00.telephone and he said I am in the Russian White House and the
:15:00. > :15:05.communists are coming to get me. I have about 20 minutes. Will you go
:15:05. > :15:10.out and tell people what is happening. I did. I went out into
:15:10. > :15:20.Downing Street and I made a statement strongly in support of
:15:20. > :15:23.
:15:23. > :15:26.reform. As the drama unfolded, Gorbachev
:15:26. > :15:36.realised the fines were disconnected and he and his family
:15:36. > :15:38.
:15:38. > :15:43.were under house arrest. He and his wife feared the worst.
:15:43. > :15:46.They surrounded us with the cars down by the seashore and everywhere.
:15:46. > :15:56.They parked their cars so nobody could drive past at the entrance
:15:56. > :15:58.
:15:58. > :16:02.because many people were trying to get in. They let nobody through.
:16:02. > :16:06.TRANSLATION: Several of our bodyguards deserted us and we were
:16:06. > :16:11.not sure we could trust those who stayed behind. I did not know
:16:11. > :16:20.whether they were protecting us off guarding us. They could have turned
:16:20. > :16:28.their guns on ask any time. They watch us from every staircase.
:16:28. > :16:34.somehow Gorbachev managed to follow the tense drama in Moscow.
:16:34. > :16:44.I listened mainly to the BBC. I had a Japanese radio which is in a
:16:44. > :16:54.
:16:54. > :16:59.museum now. I have always trusted the BBC.
:16:59. > :17:06.Boris Yeltsin denounced the coup as illegal in the capital and urged
:17:06. > :17:12.people to join him at the White House to defend Russia's fledgling
:17:12. > :17:20.democracy. Thousands gathered, people who
:17:20. > :17:30.realise that after six years of Gorbachev's reforms they had lost
:17:30. > :17:31.
:17:31. > :17:35.their fear. It was this new-found defiance
:17:35. > :17:45.which dealt an ultimate blow to the leaders of the coup. Parts of the
:17:45. > :17:47.
:17:47. > :17:51.army also refused to fire on the people. Within three days, it was
:17:51. > :17:59.over. Gorbachev and his family returned to Moscow but everything
:17:59. > :18:06.had changed. The coup leaders had lost but so had Gorbachev, as it
:18:06. > :18:16.turned out. TRANSLATION: You could see that Gorbachev wanted to put
:18:16. > :18:20.
:18:20. > :18:24.everything back in order. When Boris Yeltsin invited him to a
:18:24. > :18:34.session of the Russian parliament, he tried to reassert himself and
:18:34. > :18:43.
:18:43. > :18:48.take control. But Boris Yeltsin would not let him
:18:49. > :18:54.and instead he had to sit near as not number one but a number two.
:18:54. > :19:03.That was when I realised that Gorbachev could no longer rely on
:19:03. > :19:07.the power he had before - the power of the presidents before him.
:19:07. > :19:13.But Gorbachev seemed to be in denial. He still thought he could
:19:13. > :19:19.keep the Union intact with himself at the helm. Readers in some Soviet
:19:19. > :19:26.republics were becoming restless. Trans Mak I believe it was Boris
:19:26. > :19:32.Yeltsin that brought up the idea of meeting without Gorbachev in
:19:32. > :19:37.conversation. We agreed to meet in Belarus.
:19:37. > :19:42.During an informal gathering in a remote hunting lodge deep in the
:19:42. > :19:52.forest, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus dealt a final
:19:52. > :19:54.
:19:54. > :20:00.blow to Gorbachev and the entire Soviet Union.
:20:00. > :20:09.TRANSLATION: Boris Yeltsin said, would you agree to the Soviet Union
:20:09. > :20:19.in its existence. I said OK. It only dawned on me afterwards when
:20:19. > :20:21.
:20:21. > :20:25.my guard came to take me home. I was thinking, tomorrow I need to
:20:25. > :20:31.present this to do but there was Parliament and they can throw it
:20:31. > :20:36.out. This is a momentous thing. Usually I have a nap in the car but
:20:36. > :20:39.after that I could not sleep. It was decided that the bill was
:20:39. > :20:49.President should break the news to Gorbachev while Boris Yeltsin
:20:49. > :20:50.
:20:50. > :20:58.announced it to the world. TRANSLATION: When they finally put
:20:58. > :21:02.me through to Gorbachev, Yeltsin was already on the phone to George
:21:02. > :21:12.Bush. I thought, can you imagine what the outside world will think
:21:12. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:24.of this? Gorbachev said we were idiots to get involved and I said
:21:24. > :21:34.that Boris Yeltsin was on the find to George Bush right now. There was
:21:34. > :21:37.
:21:38. > :21:47.a silence of the other end of the phone, and then Gorbachev hung up.
:21:48. > :21:53.
:21:53. > :21:55.Gorbachev had no choice but to resign. TRANSLATION: -- After six
:21:55. > :22:02.years in power, he went on television.
:22:02. > :22:06.He was the last President of the Soviet Union. The red flag came
:22:06. > :22:09.down and was replaced by the Russian try:. Boris Yeltsin,
:22:09. > :22:19.President of Russia, was now in charge. He and Gorbachev never
:22:19. > :22:26.
:22:26. > :22:33.spoke again. -- Russian tricolour. TRANSLATION: He is a scandal and a
:22:34. > :22:39.traitor. We agreed how things would be anti- began to scream behind my
:22:39. > :22:49.back. The story is about Boris Yeltsin, the traitor.
:22:49. > :22:51.
:22:51. > :22:58.-- we agreed how things would be and then he began to scheme behind
:22:58. > :23:06.my back. I'll I was very sad for him on a
:23:06. > :23:11.personal level because I appreciated what he had achieved.
:23:11. > :23:16.20 years later, the last President of the Soviet Union lives quietly
:23:16. > :23:19.in Moscow with his family. In his 80s, he is still heading a
:23:19. > :23:29.political institute. His granddaughter helps him keep
:23:29. > :23:30.
:23:30. > :23:34.abreast of technology. Politically, he is a lonely figure,
:23:34. > :23:40.respected abroad but blamed by many in his own country for bringing
:23:40. > :23:50.down the Soviet Union. Gorbachev is not nostalgic but he looks ahead
:23:50. > :23:53.
:23:53. > :24:03.with trepidation. He is scathing about putting's Russia -- Putin's
:24:03. > :24:08.Russia. TRANSLATION: It should be a different countries. They are about
:24:08. > :24:14.stability but stability kills a country and leads to stagnation.
:24:14. > :24:18.-- a different country. I think they have blown it with democracy.
:24:18. > :24:27.Our electoral system was nothing remarkable but they have simply
:24:27. > :24:32.castrated it. I apologise for my choice of words.
:24:32. > :24:39.He insists his concern is not his own reputation but the future of
:24:39. > :24:45.his country. If we miss these next five or six years, we will always
:24:45. > :24:54.lag behind. We are in a transitional path to democracy and
:24:54. > :25:01.the best we are only halfway through. The man who changed the
:25:01. > :25:07.world but lost an empire. Gorbachev is one of the towering figures of
:25:07. > :25:12.the last half century because of what he achieved in changing a
:25:12. > :25:19.nation by the force of his own will and determination. In terms of
:25:19. > :25:24.internal reputation, he paid a heavy price.
:25:24. > :25:29.TRANSLATION: In the eyes of his own people, he will go down in history
:25:29. > :25:33.as the person who destroyed the country but in the west where they
:25:33. > :25:43.were always eager to see this country collapse, he is the man who
:25:43. > :25:53.made history. History will be extraordinarily kind to Mikhail
:25:53. > :25:58.
:25:58. > :26:03.Gorbachev as well as to Edward Sheverdnadse. That is because they
:26:03. > :26:13.were determined not to use force. If not for them, the Cold War could
:26:13. > :26:20.
:26:20. > :26:29.have ended with a bang instead of a have ended with a bang instead of a
:26:29. > :26:31.The weather was fairly mixed across the UK yesterday. There were spells
:26:31. > :26:39.of sunshine occasionally punctuated by heavy downpours. Most places
:26:39. > :26:42.will be dry today with a few showers in the north and west. It
:26:43. > :26:46.will feel quite warm in the spells of sunshine. The odd shower for
:26:46. > :26:49.north-west Wales is the exception rather than the rule. A dry and
:26:49. > :26:52.fine start to the day in Northern Ireland. A different story for
:26:52. > :27:02.northern and western parts of Scotland, with a high chance of
:27:02. > :27:13.
:27:13. > :27:17.showers. Warm highs in London and Norwich. Very good news for the