The opponents of perestroika had suffered a defeat, and then they organized the coup.

A society should never become like a pond with stagnant water, without movement. That's the most important thing.

It will not be enough to rely on experts. Ordinary citizens must become experts too. It will take public opinion on a wide scale to ensure that world leaders act.

I believe, as Lenin said, that this revolutionary chaos may yet crystallize into new forms of life.

Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it.

The Union was destroyed against the will of the people, and it was done deliberately - with the participation of the Russian leadership, on the one hand, and that of the putschists, on the other.

We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.