| 1968 - 1998 |
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As the anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 approaches, a group of Russian intellectuals has spoken out against the actions of the Soviet regime and called for support of the developing democracy in the Russian Confederation.
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In an announcement timed to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the Warsaw pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the congress of intelligentsia of the Russian Confederation has made an appeal to the international community for, quote, "solidarity with the democratic, reformist part of Russia and its resistance to the powers of evil and to wilful demonstrations of chauvinism and russian fascism." The congress also said that the democratic public of Russia was doing everything to avoid a return to imperial despotism and violent relations towards their own people and to the people of other nations.
Ninety five leading figures from Russian politics and society signed the announcement including the widow of Nobel prize winner Andreji Sacharov, former russian prime minister Jegor Gajdar, the writer Jevgenij Jevtusenko and cellist Mstislav Rostropovic. As well as the Czechoslovak invasion in 68, the Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956 and the mass executions in Berlin in 1953 are also remembered. The statement calls for a public discussion of civil responsibility for the actions of the past, describing the former regime as an "empire of evil". "The twentieth century is coming to an end, it writes, the time has come to draw conclusions. We are obliged to honourably evaluate the past - both recent and distant - remember all the tragic events which our country took part in".
Recalling the Russians who protested in Red Square after the 68 invasion and who were subsequently imprisoned, the congress expressed its hope that Russia will become a truly democratic country. "Out of the fight against evil, it writes, out of resistence to the former regime of cultivated russian fascism, a new Russia is being born." |
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