1989: When The USSR Was The Mirror Of Yugoslavia

Sa？etak This paper is focused on a report of the Lon？ar-Shevarnadze meeting in November 1989, held during a subsequent high level meeting by Yugoslav political leaders. It discusses their interpretation of the fall of the Berlin wall. The Yugoslav politicians did not have a clear strategy of their country’s position in the new European context. In the middle of November 1989, they did not expect, in the next future, any significant alteration of the bipolar superpower system (USA and Soviet Union). The debate on USSR is mirroring internal Yugoslav problems – such as being influenced by growing nationalistic tensions. The Yugoslavs perceived USSR as a bigger self, affected by similar dynamics. The strong optimism in the West about the events in Eastern Europe did not match with the evolution in socialist Yugoslavia