Stanislau Shushkevich: I Said That I Would Be The First To Sign Belavezha Accords

It was very important to choose the exact wording for the liquidation of the Soviet empire.

The current number of the American magazine Newsweek published a long interview with first head of independent Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich, which he gave to scientist and journalist Arkady Dubnov within the framework of the project, organized by the Gaidar Foundation, Radio Svaboda reports.

Stanislau Shushkevich admits in the interview that he was not thinking about the liquidation of the USSR at that time. He says that when he was in Moscow and Moscow region in October 1991, he invited head of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin to go on a hunting trip to the Belavezha Forest.

Stanislau Shushkevich says that he was not thinking about the liquidation of the USSR even on the way to the Belavezha Forest.

But later, when Burbulis offered a very clear and precise wording that "the USSR as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality no longer exists," the situation changed. Suddenly we all came to the conclusion that we could support Burbulis’ proposal.

"Burbulis for me, before everything else, is a man, who has found such a precise wording for the liquidation of the Soviet Union ... I did not think it could be formulated in such a precise way, and hell, I loved him then."

Shushkevich says that then he could not resist and exclaimed out loud that he would be the first to sign such a document.

Stanislau Shushkevich also clarifies in the interview the situation with the time, when and who of the Belavezha agreement participants called the world leaders. He says that the myth about Mikhail Gorbachev’s resentment against Boris Yeltsin for the fact that he had allegedly given a call to US President George H.W. Bush first, and only then to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, has no merit.

"I think that Gorbachev knows that it was not the case. In fact it all happened almost simultaneously. Yeltsin and Kravchuk told me: "You have a good relationship with Gorbachev, so you have to call him and say that we have prepared an agreement to be signed." We had not signed it yet, because we signed it later in front of the cameras. "

Shushkevich says that in response he and Kravchuk asked Yeltsin to call Bush immediately after Shushkevich’s conversation with Gorbachev.

According to Shushkevich, the calls occurred simultaneously, but he had to explain to Gorbachev’s aide the purpose of the call for quite a long time.

"It took some time to talk to the person who picked up the phone, and to explain to him who I was, because there were all sorts of questions..."

Shushkevich says that he and Yeltsin were sitting close to each other, and he heard Yeltsin's conversation with Bush. According to Shushkevich, Yeltsin started to talk to Bush at the time when he was talking to Gorbachev's assistant.

"Gorbachev asked me in a very didactic tone: "Have you thought about how the international community will respond?" I replied: "You know, Mikhail Sergeyevich, it responds beautifully. Boris has called Bush, and Bush looks with favour on it." Then there was silence! And since then he has always spoken to me in a very formal manner."