Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev became the CPSU General Secretary in fall 1985. We owe him our gratitude for the reforms in the Soviet Union. It was he who realized that the old system based on prioritizing the arms build-up was not only incapable of sustaining freedom of action for the Soviet Union as a super power, but was only capable of aggravating an already-strained system of food supplies in his own country. It then became clear that the openness of the country was imperative.

In Gorbachev's conception, glasnost and perestroika would become instrumental in the Soviet Union becoming competitive in the world. Gorbachev planned to carry out these reforms and at the same time retain the Soviet system and thus perhaps, for the first time even implement its initial aims.

Developments showed that he was wrong. There was no way out. The longer the system remained closed the faster it lost its vital forces. But the system's opening would inevitably result in its destruction.

Nevertheless, the fundamental historical process of reconstruction is associated with Gorbachev's name. Ultimately, he became the key figure of revolutionary reforms implemented almost solely by peaceful means. Among his decisive achievements is the rejection of Brezhnev's doctrine which granted only limited sovereignty to the socialist states and gave Moscow the comprehensive right to interfere in their internal affairs. Now under Gorbachev each socialist state had to decide its future development independently. The Press Secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gennady Gerasimov dubbed this the "Sumatra's doctrine" based on Frank Sumatra's song called "My way." This policy resulted in the collapse of the Soviet empire and a peaceful change of power in Hungary and Poland, in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the German Democratic Republic.

The main result of my state visit in summer 1987 was a long conversation between Gorbachev and Shevardnadze - Genscher and myself. It was the first time I had met him. His voice was full of concentrated energy but totally relaxed. During the conversation he was very open, earnest and listened attentively. However, at this first meeting we did not get a full sense of his essential, characteristic charm.

During our conversation he did not indulge in either ideology or propaganda. Instead he expanded his long-term ideas and his vision of the future. He spoke with great conviction. When I tried to speak about the still open German issue he completely denied its existence. When I made a second attempt, he said that we should leave the solution of this problem to history. Nobody is aware of what will happen in a hundred years. When I smilingly asked him if he knew what would happen in fifty years he began to laugh. According to his own confession made years later this was the first conversation Gorbachev had had with a German about the German issue. Three years later he gave our Federal Chancellor a positive answer, first in Moscow and later on in the Caucasus.

A short time after my visit, Gorbachev told Franz Josef Strauss that this visit "had opened a new page in history." In Germany Kohl described my visit to Moscow as "a milestone in mutual understanding." Kohl and Gorbachev were to demonstrate this very impressively two years later.

In summer 1989, immediately after the visit of the US President George Bush, Gorbachev came to Bonn on a state visit. I had not seen him for almost two years. With the first handshake a warm, cordial atmosphere emerged, quite unlike the formal and rather austere atmosphere in the Kremlin almost two years ago. In the Hammerschmidt villa gardens Gorbachev relaxed and talked to Russian and Russian-speaking German schoolchildren. During a luncheon for the Gorbachevs and the Weizsäckers, Gorbachev spoke in detail about his childhood, his studies and his political career. That warm June day and the beautiful but modest Hammerschmidt villa with its splendid garden lovingly and skillfully looked after by my wife, served its human and political purpose. Given the villa's history, it appeared to have been created just for a state visit from Russia. A Rhine employer, Albrecht Troost built it in the middle of the XIX century. The next owner, Leopold Koenig was born in Petersburg and made a fortune in Russia by trading in sugar. He is well-known to Bonn inhabitants for the museum he built for his son opposite the villa, the very "Koenig's museum" where in 1949 the Parliamentary Council presided over by Konrad Adenauer ratified the Constitution. The next owner, Rudolf Hammerschmidt who gave the villa its name today also traded with Russia.

Gorbachev was genuinely delighted with the close connections of his country with the villa's history and with the magnificent view of the Rhine that opened up from the terrace, which reminded him of the Volga landscape. All niceties aside, however, the visit was important. The conversations which took place during the visit were very profound and intense. Gorbachev was approaching the turning point of his leadership in the country. The whole world was watching the tremendous changes which he had instigated. In the USSR many were concerned about the consequences of these immense changes. Our principle objective was to perceive, correctly evaluate and use these events. In this connection Gorbachev's visit served to establish mutual confidence. It was clear that Gorbachev was touched by the hearty, sincere and enthusiastic welcome which he was accorded everywhere by the citizens of the Federal Republic.
Genuine relations were established during long intensive and very personal exchanges of experience between Gorbachev and Kohl. This laid the basis for sincere mutual respect and sympathies that made possible the success of the conclusive negotiations in 1990 for the benefit of Germany's unity.