ACCESSION NUMBER:359238
FILE ID:TXT204
DATE:09/06/94
TITLE:RUSSIA COMPLETES THDRAWAL FROM GERMANY (09/06/94)
TEXT:*94090604.TXT
RUSSIA COMPLETES THDRAWAL FROM GERMANY
(VOA Editorial)  (330)
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America September 3,
reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)

Another milestone was reached this past week when the last of some 370,000
Russian troops withdrew from German territory.  German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl and Russian President Boris Yeltsin attended the farewell ceremonies
in Berlin.

The withdrawal marks the end of a Russian presence that began nearly half a
century ago.  After its defeat in the Second World War, Germany and its
capital city, Berlin, were divided into four occupation zones run by the
United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France.  The Soviet Union soon
made it clear that it had no intention of complying with the agreement to
treat Germany as a single country.  The Soviets installed a Communist
government that declared East Germany a sovereign state.

In 1948, the Soviets tried to force the United States, Britain and France
out of West Berlin by blockading the city.  The United States and its
allies responded with the Berlin airlift. In 1953, Soviet forces helped put
down the East German workers' revolt.  In 1961, the Soviets assisted the
Communist government in building the Berlin Wall to keep East Germans from
fleeing to freedom in the West.

But the demand for freedom could not be suppressed forever.  On November 9,
1989, the Berlin Wall fell.  East Germans poured into West Germany by the
thousands.  This time, the Soviet Union did nothing to prop up the East
German regime.  Overcome by the same surge of freedom that had swept
through Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union itself dissolved in late 1991.
1
This month's withdrawal of Russian troops from Germany symbolizes the end of
the long, dark era when Europe was divided between freedom and
totalitarianism.  During the dark days of the Cold War, few could have
imagined that Russia would one day be pursuing democracy and free-market
reform, and participating in NATO's Partnership for Peace.

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