Yelena Bonner Subscribes To Potemkin Coup Theory; Center Joins Her In Call For Gorbachev’s Resignation

(Washington, D.C.): Last night, the conscience of the Soviet Union and widow of Andrei Sakharov, Dr. Yelena Bonner, added her powerful voice to those of other prominent Soviets who have questioned Mikhail Gorbachev’s role in the August 19th coup. In a dramatic interview broadcast on the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, Dr. Bonner said:

"I still believe that it was Gorbachev who organized this coup. It’s just that he did not think that the coup would go this far, as far as it would start to affect himself….He was the one who deliberated all the stages of this coup, except for the final one where [he] and his family became the victims."

 

When asked what Gorbachev hoped to gain from the coup, Bonner responded:

"He wanted to twist the republics’ arms further on. He wanted to force them to sign the union treaty — and having twisted the arms of the people — he wanted to get his second presidency. And he needed the situation of extraordinary [emergency], backed up with tanks and armored personnel carriers, to shut down the public voice for another six months."

 

This view parallels those held by other prominent Soviets, including the World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, and former KGB officer Victor Shemyov. It also reflects the attitude described by one member of the Russian parliament who told Gorbachev to his face last week: "Those who defended the Russian "White House" all have the opinion that you knew ahead of time what was going to happen."

Such statements reinforce the Center for Security Policy’s longstanding view that Gorbachev was not the agent for genuine, democratic and free market reform in the Soviet Union he was held to be by the Bush Administration, its Western allies, the Grand Bargaineers, and much of the foreign policy establishment and press corps. They also cast serious doubt on the prospects that Gorbachev will serve as a reliable agent for such reforms now and, therefore, that he — rather than the emerging democracies at the republic and local levels — should be the beneficiary of further Western support.

Accordingly, the Center strongly seconds Dr. Bonner’s conviction that Gorbachev must dispense with any further claims to legitimacy as president of the Soviet Union:

"The only dignified step that [Gorbachev] can take is to say in his speech [today]: ‘I was the one to blame for all the blood that was spilled, and I carry a responsibility for all of it. I am responsible because I ended up having not a single decent person in my immediate surroundings. I am responsible for bringing the country to the edge of the precipice, and I am asking for your [forgiveness]. I am stepping down. I have no right to be a leader of this state.’"

 

While he declined to accept responsibility in this manner, Mikhail Gorbachev did announce his intention to resign today. He did so, however, in the manner of a threat — to be implemented in the event some semblance of the old order of the Soviet Union is not preserved. The Center for Security Policy believes that preserving the discredited imperial "union" in any form is not in the cards, nor should it be. Gorbachev’s resignation, and the wholesale dismantling of the USSR he asserts would precipitate it, should be as welcomed by the West as it obviously would be by Dr. Bonner and her fellow genuine reformers.