Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says the fall of the Berlin Wall was
a positive event because it united Germany and ultimately all of
Europe, but he says not all hopes the event sparked have been realized.
Mr.
Medvedev told the German magazine Der Spiegel that some of the hopes he
and people in his country had at the time were realized, and some were
not. He expressed regret that relations between Russia and the rest of
Europe have not always been ideal.
The Russian president made
his remarks in an interview ahead of the 20th anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall. He will join other wold leaders Monday in Germany
for the formal commemoration of the anniversary.
The wall,
erected in 1961, was a symbol of the division between Western Europe
and the Eastern communist bloc, until it came down on November 9, 1989.
In
Moscow Saturday, communists marked the anniversary of the 1917 October
Revolution, which installed communists led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
into power. Waving Soviet red flags with the hammer-and-sickle emblem,
thousands marched down central Moscow streets.
Huge police units were deployed.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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Medvedev: Not All Hopes Realized After Berlin Wall Fell
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