First person. Conversations with Vladimir Putin (№ 439546)

I didn't know that Kissinger worked in intelligence. And what he said afterwards was unexpected and very interesting for me. He said: “You know, I am now being criticized a lot for my position at that time in relation to the USSR. I believed that the Soviet Union should not leave Eastern Europe so quickly. We are changing the balance of the world very quickly, and this can lead to undesirable consequences. And now I'm being blamed for it. They say: now the Soviet Union is gone, and everything is fine, but you thought it was impossible. And I really thought it was impossible." Then he thought and added: "To be honest, I still don't understand why Gorbachev did it." I didn't expect to hear that from him at all. I told him and I say now: Kissinger was right. We would have avoided so many problems if there had not been such a hasty flight.