Wasington D.C., October 11, 2018 -The end of the Cold War was a magical moment in international relations, which scholars and diplomats will continue to study and interpret for ages. In addition to documents declassified in the United States, Russia and other countries, memoirs of key participants shed light on crucial negotiations and turning points of U.S.-Soviet/Russian relations. Anatoly Adamishin served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the Soviet Foreign Ministry under Eduard Shevardnadze from 1986 to 1990. His responsibilities included negotiations on resolution of conflict in Southern Africa, heading the Foreign Ministry special working group on Afghanistan, and directing the first “humanitarian desk” in the Ministry in charge of human rights and preparations for the precedent-setting CSCE humanitarian conference in Moscow.

Cooperation at the highest level between Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and General Secretary (and later first President of the USSR) Mikhail Gorbachev allowed the two countries to achieve significant breakthroughs in arms control, bilateral issues and resolution of third world conflicts. Skillful diplomats on both sides achieved their own breakthroughs in bringing the two sides’ positions closer together and building trust at all levels of the two governments. Guided by the understanding of common interests and universal values, they now negotiated outcomes in which there was, in Adamishin’s words, “an unconditional convergence of views” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

These negotiations are detailed in the Adamishin memoir V Raznye Gody: Vneshnepoliticheskie Ocherki (Different Times: Foreign Policy Essays)[1] recently published in Russia and in remarkable diplomatic conversations captured in U.S. declassified documents published here for the first time.

The documents