'Not all hopes realised after fall of Berlin Wall': Medvedev

Moscow, Nov 7 : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said here today the fall of Berlin Wall was a positive event, but not all the hopes that arose after it were realised.

Medvedev is to travel to the German capital on November 9 to take part in events marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

''The Berlin Wall was always a symbol of the division of Europe,'' he told German media on the eve of his visit to Germany.

''Its fall was seen as a continuation of the path to European unity'' he added.

''Some of the hopes that I and people in my country had then were realized, and some them were not,'' Medvedev noted.

He also expressed regret that since the fall of the Berlin Wall, relations between Russia and European countries had not always been ideal.

''In many issues connected to the destiny of Europe, and Russia's ties with European countries, things could have developed slightly differently,'' he said.

The Berlin Wall, which was erected in 1961 in order to divide the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the Federal Republic of Germany, was the symbol of the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc for decades.

The fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, was the first step towards German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

The wall fell after the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had introduced the policy of Perestroika in the USSR, which led to a wave or revolutionary sentiments across Eastern Europe.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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