ABSTRACT
Mikhail Gorbachev was exasperated by the manner in which the parliament that he had worked so hard to create had been so quick to wave the white flag again, just as it had after the putsch. Gorbachev was troubled by the deteriorating relations between the Slavic and non-Slavic peoples. Nursultan Nazarbaev announced to Gorbachev over the phone that the leaders present at the Ashkhabad meeting had not only proposed some amendments to the accords but were also calling for a meeting of the State Council. This would automatically mean that Gorbachev would be restored to the office of president. Gorbachev recounted his conversation with Boris Yeltsin to Francois Mitterrand, awkwardly tossing in a few profanities to better express his indignation. Gorbachev had gotten Yeltsin to agree to issue a mollifying statement to the press, explaining that everything would be done "in stages."
