The Fall of the Soviet Union

The end is nigh! As the Soviet Union veered from attempted military coup to total collapse in 1991, we trace the role which Radio Liberty  played in documenting and influencing these tumultuous events.  In looking at Radio Liberty’s decision to broadcasting Boris Yeltsin’s speeches during the August coup, as well as the somewhat bewildered Radio Liberty broadcasts which went out as the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, we conclude the series with an attempt to summarize Radio Liberty’s impact on the course of these extraordinary historical events, and upon the very nature of the Cold War itself.