ABSTRACT
The journalists were in luck: Mikhail Gorbachev clearly wanted to tell them everything that was on his mind. The main advantage of Gorbachev's line of reasoning was that it was impossible to refute. Gorbachev was also asked how he felt about a "Commonwealth of Independent States." Gorbachev encouraged us to speak freely, and the discussions sometimes lasted into the small hours. After Gorbachev had answered the question about his wife's correspondence, the journalists from Komsomolskaya pravda chose to change the subject. Circumstances being what they were, this was the only way Gorbachev would be represented at Alma-Ata. According to Gorbachev, the most reasonable solution would be to have a single structure responsible for conducting foreign relations, adapted to the needs and principles of the commonwealth, including the question of its membership in the United Nations Security Council.
