On Waking Up As an American During the Fall of the Soviet Union

Jamison Firestone remembers the moments leading up to the collapse of the world’s largest communist state: 

On the evening of August 18, 1991, my friend Terry and I were staying at the Pribaltiyskaya Intourist hotel, a huge Soviet hotel complex built in an ugly brutalist style on a windswept island close to the Gulf of Finland, far from the center of Leningrad.

On the morning of August 19, I tried to wake Terry for breakfast. He was having none of it and told me to go on my own. So I walked over to the lift, pushed the button, and got in. As the door closed, a tall American looked down at me and said, “Do you speak English?”

“Yes.”

“So I guess we’re all going home.” “What?”

“Haven’t you heard? There’s been a revolution! Gorby is out.

There are tanks in the streets!” “What?! You are kidding!”

“Turn on your TV, watch CNN.”

Shocked, I went back to the room and woke Terry.

“Terry! Terry, get up! There has been a revolution! Gorbachev is out! There are tanks in the streets! Your mom was right, and you can bet she’s worried. Call her!”

Terry cocked an eye. “Seriously?”

Euphoria was in the air. I couldn’t believe what happened, nor could anyone else. The people had stood up. Soviet tanks had backed down.

We then turned on the TV to find Swan Lake was playing on all the Soviet channels. This was something the Soviets usually did before making a huge announcement, as when a leader died or had been replaced. However, CNN was broadcasting live, and we watched in shock as tanks rolled into Moscow and then President George H. W. Bush spoke about the coup. It wasn’t really clear what was going on, other than a group of eight hard-line high communist officials and KGB officers were trying to remove Gorbachev from power, claiming he was “sick” at one of his country houses. I watched as President Bush urged the new government of the Soviet Union to honor its foreign debt and other international obligations. WTF? This thing wasn’t even over yet, and the president was treating it as a done deal. What had I gotten us into? I wasn’t terribly worried about our personal safety. It seemed unlikely that people were going to go out of their way to kill foreigners. I just kept thinking, Is this coup really a done deal, and if so, how the hell do we get home? Read more

An excerpt from Rule of Lies: My Wild Ride Through Chaos, Corruption, and Murder in Putin’s Russia by Jamison Firestone.