The Keys ep6 Perestroika. The beginning of the end
The father of perestroika – Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev – announced the economic reforms soon after coming to power, softening censorship, releasing political prisoners, permitting private business, and starting denuclearization talks. The same year, Time magazine declared Gorbachev the Man of the Year.
Perestroika was hailed as a new beginning. We all know how it ended. The soft economic reforms turned into a catastrophic implosion. Perestroika destroyed the stagnating world order and turned upside down the history of the 20th century. In February 1987 Gorbachev visited Riga. In this episode of the Keys we will retrace the tour of the General Secretary to understand what happened in the places he visited, what happened with the people he met and what happened with Gorbachev himself when all of it was over.
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