ABSTRACT
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's (USSR) embarking upon an evolutionary revolution has not only altered the setting of Soviet policy toward Eastern Europe, but also the internal development of the individual socialist states. When CC secretaries N. Sliunkov and G. Mittag met in East Berlin on January 25,1989, the Soviet desire for increased German Democratic Republic (GDR) assistance in modernizing the USSR was again center-stage. E. A. Shevardnadze evinced "understanding and support" for the measures projected by the GDR as of 1990, on top of Soviet force reductions, which Honecker announced in February 1989. In Czechoslovakia the Soviet leaders were still dealing with a top team that was installed after the 1968 military intervention to liquidate the reform movement. Soviet-Romanian summit talks produced an agreement on ideological collaboration also envisaging the more active use of contacts among scientists as well as the creation of mixed commissions for the social sciences.
