Vyacheslav Ivanovich Kochemasov (; 18 September 1918 – 25 August 1998) was a Soviet and Russian diplomat and politician. He was the Soviet Ambassador to East Germany from 1983 till 1990. His term included the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 which effectively heralded the end, in 1990, of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. The Soviet government played a key role in this process.

Life and career

Kochemasov became a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

in 1942. Directly after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he became an official in the international section of the Young Communist League (Komsomol). After that, between 1955 and 1960, he worked at the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Embassy in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

. From 1966 till 1983 he was deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers for the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. At the same time he held leadership positions in the "All-union society for protecting Culture and Historical Monuments" and with the Rossotrudnichestvo.Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation/''Федеральное агентство по делам Содружества Независимых Государств, соотечественников, проживающих за рубежом, и по международному гуманитарному сотрудничеству'' Between 1966 and 1983 he was listed as a candidate for membership of the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

: between June 1983 and June 1990 he was a full member of it. In 1983

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...

, the new Soviet leader, appointed Kochemasov to succeed Pyotr Abrasimov as

Soviet Ambassador The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In 1985 a new generation took over at the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

became Soviet Party Secretary in March 1985. Gorbachev took a substantially changed approach to relations between

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

, but Vyacheslav Kochemasov nevertheless remained in his ambassadorial post for more than five of the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

Glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...

years that ensued. During the evening of 9 November 1989, as the Berlin Wall came down, there was widespread speculation as to how the Soviet Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic might react. Vyacheslav Kochemasov did nothing. It was later reported that on the evening of 9 November, he had tried, without success, to telephone Mikhail Gorbachev and then the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, for instructions. During the reunification process Kochemasov continued to represent his country's interests. In this connection it was Kochemasov who on 16 April 1990 handed over to East Germany's recently elected prime minister, Lothar de Maizière, the so-called "Non-paper" which set out, unofficially and in an informal manner, the Soviet Union's eleven ground-rules for the rapidly unfolding

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

of East and West Germany. The note recorded that Article 23 of the East German constitution clearly rejected a union of the two German states and also rejected membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

for a reunited Germany. At the beginning of June 1990 Vyacheslav Kochemasov, now aged nearly 72, was recalled to Moscow and entered into retirement. His successor as Soviet Ambassador to East Germany was Gennadi Schikin. Kochemasov died on 25 August 1998 in Moscow. He is buried, with his wife Ziniaida Nicolaevna, a highly qualified medical doctor, in the

Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (russian: Троекуровское кладбище, Troyekurovskoye kladbishche), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (russian: Ново-Кунцевское кладбище, Novo-Kuntsevskoye kladbishch ...

on the western edge of Moscow.,

The ambassador's insights

On tensions in East German government during the Perestroika years

The extent to which

's leader Erich Honecker and his inner circle felt unsettled and undermined by on-going

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

became more widely known after Honecker himself had retired. In 1992 Kochemasov gave a remarkable interview to the western press, disclosing that as far back as 1986 a senior member of the East German government, Werner Krolikowski had told him, in confidence, that the situation in the country's SED Politburo had become "unbearable": policy decisions were totally driven by dogma, there was no longer any discussion, there was an absurd level of centralisation and an utterly implausible communications strategy. Something must be done: the leader must be replaced.

On the limitations imposed on a Warsaw bloc leader's autonomy by the Brezhnev Doctrine

The year before he died Kochemasov gave another western press interview in which he concentrated on the events of November 1989 and their aftermath. He confirmed that the Brezhnev Doctrine had left an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

head of state with surprisingly little autonomy. He recalled that he had been invited to interpret an instruction from Soviet leader

that long running demonstrations in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

should be brought under control, regardless of how it was done. The East German leader Erich Honecker and his successor

Egon Krenz Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the General Secretary ...

were unable to agree whether Gorbachev's instruction amounted to a mandate to suppress the Leipzig demonstration using force. Kochemasov, representing the Soviet viewpoint had immediately supported the Krenz interpretation that force should on no account be used against the Leipzig demonstrators. He had also, for the avoidance of any doubt, then lost no time in communicating the same interpretation to

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

commanders based in East Germany.

On the Gorbachev strategy over East Germany

The same interview included discussion on whether prosecuting of the country's former leaders for the killings of people trying to escape from East Germany represented a treaty breach by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Kochemasov believed that court actions against former East German leaders represented a breach of a gentlemen's agreement between Kohl and Gorbachev, implying that Gorbachev had been too trusting in his dealings with the West German leader. But as far as Kochemasov knew there had been no express treaty provision or other documented agreement covering the issue. At the end of the interview, when pushed for an opinion, Kochemasov confirmed that in terms of the fundamental interests of the Soviet Union, he believed that Gorbachev had shown excessive and unnecessary weakness over

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

Awards

* 2 Orders of Lenin * 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labour * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" * Medal "Veteran of Labour"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kochemasov, Vyacheslav 1918 births 1998 deaths People from Sergachsky Uyezd Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to East Germany Candidates of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Candidates of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Candidates of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Candidates of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1955–1959 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1963–1967 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1967–1971 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1971–1975 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1975–1980 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1980–1985 Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery