“His East European allies say they want to be in NATO”

This chapter focuses on the domestic context of the Soviet settlement with Germany. It explains that the domestic crisis preoccupied Gorbachev more than the issue of Germany being in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and this determined his vacillations and last-minute change of heart. The chapter explores how Soviet diplomacy performed under conditions of the rapid decline and disintegration of Soviet power caused by the internal political, economic, and financial crisis. The discussion of the Soviet role in German unification started in Western literature. The Soviet role in German unification remains a subject of debate, and scholars have no clear picture of Gorbachev's intentions and motives. The main debate took place between Gorbachev's entourage and numerous critics. Russian critics often referred to Western literature for illustrations of Gorbachev's and Shevardnadze's "concessions" to Western powers and wondered if those were the result of their naivete or their selling out of national interests.