(6 of 7)
A. We need your help now. Immediately. Stop hesitating or we will all have to pay a greater price in the end. You should promote reform in the commonwealth and, first of all, in Russia. They need urgent help in the form of hard currency to provide consumer goods for the market and speed up the move toward a convertible ruble. They want to move faster, but they cannot do so without a stabilizing fund of several billion dollars. If you have given aid to Poland and Hungary, Russia certainly deserves it.
Q. Can help from the West really change the situation of people waiting out there in lines?
A. You are right. This is the result of the enormous mass of money in circulation and an imbalance between supply and demand. Those who have money can afford to buy expensive sausage. Those who don't must wait in line for goods sold at state-controlled prices. But prices will have to be fixed for certain goods, so that poorer people can afford them.
Q. Won't the republics' bureaucracies simply take the place of the old union bureaucracy?
A. The republics were fervent fighters, wanting to destroy the center and take over its functions. But as soon as they succeeded, the reform process abruptly stopped.
Q. Is there a danger of another coup?
A. It is our responsibility to see that this doesn't happen. I think a military coup is out of the question. Neither I nor Yeltsin nor the democrats would resort to this. It is just not acceptable.
But there may have to be firmness and tough enforcement of law and discipline. A strengthening of executive power -- not a dictatorship -- is necessary during this transitional period. The conservatives and reactionaries, after their defeat, are gathering strength and hoping to take advantage of the country's difficulties. There is a lot of discontent, which can be channeled in a certain direction. But they will be unable to get the army to rise up in a putsch.
If we have achieved anything both inside this country and in the world at large, it was only when we used political means. That is not to rule out emergency measures in emergency situations, particularly when there is a threat to the security of the country. Where might the biggest threat come from? If the market situation deteriorates even further, if factories are shut down, then it will lead to further decline and will force people out into the streets with political demands.
However, whenever people take to the streets, immediately all kinds of political manipulators and adventurists will take advantage of the situation for their own ends. Our most pressing task is to prevent this, no matter what party anyone belongs to. That's why we should direct aid to those areas where the tension is greatest: Moscow, Leningrad and the Urals.
Q. Can you name those who might take advantage of the situation?
A. I think they are from the old structures where conservative elements were concentrated. They were at various levels of the party apparatus, in the administrative bureaucracy and in the military-industrial complex.
Q. What about the KGB ?