DATE=11/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / WALL REACTION (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255976
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  The celebrations of the 10th anniversary 
of the fall of the Berlin Wall have prompted a 
complaint from Russia that NATO expansion is 
creating new divisions in Europe.  V-O-A Moscow 
correspondent Eve Conant reports.  

TEXT:  Russia's Foreign Ministry noted the 10th 
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by 
expressing its condemnation of NATO's eastward 
expansion.

Ministry Spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin said the 
anniversary was a good occasion, in his words, to 
think about the problems of "new lines dividing 
Europe." He said it was not good to "revive 
thinking based on bloc affiliation." 

NATO's decision to incorporate Poland, Hungary, 
and the Czech Republic as well as NATO's military 
campaign in Yugoslavia helped to bring Russia-
Western diplomatic relations to their lowest 
point since the Cold War.

The NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia also changed 
many Russian's opinions of the West. A number of 
them say they are glad the Berlin Wall came down 
and that relations opened. Still, many believe 
that Russia and the West will never be on 
friendly terms.  Fifty three year old Galina 
Ivanova says the only result of the fall of the 
Berlin Wall is that the West is no longer afraid 
of Russia.

/// ACT IVANOVA IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER 
///

"We should have stated some conditions when the 
Wall came down," she says. "NATO stayed on in 
Europe and we left. It would have been better if 
NATO pulled out all of its troops too."

For most Russians, however, the celebrations in 
Germany went unnoticed.  Berlin's guest speaker, 
former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, is an 
unpopular figure in Russia who rarely gets media 
attention. While the West respects him as the man 
who helped bring down the Iron Curtain, a large 
number of Russians view him as a cause of their 
economic hardship.

But for taxi driver Valery Nikolayevich it was a 
good thing the Wall came down and that Mr. 
Gorbachev pulled Russian troops out of former 
socialist countries such as East Germany.

/// ACT NIKOLAYEVICH IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE 
UNDER ///

He says, "Everyone should unite and live in 
peace." He adds that there should  not  be a Wall 
that separates those who live well and those who 
live poorly. (Signed)

NEB/EC/GE/KL 



09-Nov-1999 11:12 AM EDT (09-Nov-1999 1612 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.