| Medvedev to arrive in Berlin to attend "fall of wall" celebrations |
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09/11/2009 10:40 (825 Day 03:21 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is arriving in Berlin on November 9 to take part in events marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko earlier said the Russian leader was invited to attend the celebrations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He also said Medvedev was expected to meet in Berlin with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and other top officials are also expected to attend the events.
The Berlin Wall, which was erected in 1961 in order to divide the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the Federal Republic of Germany, was the symbol of the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc for decades.
After its erection, around 5,000 people successfully climbed, tunneled under or flew over the wall into West Germany. Estimates as to the number of people who lost their lives while trying to escape range from 98 to 200.
The fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, was the first step toward German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990. The wall fell after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had introduced the policy of perestroika in the USSR, which led to a wave or revolutionary sentiments across Eastern Europe.
On November 9, the Festival of Freedom is to be held in Berlin, during which over 1,000 foam domino tiles over 8 feet tall will be stacked along the former route of the wall in the city center and toppled.
Medvedev told German media recently that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a positive event, but not all the hopes that arose after it came down were realized.
"The Berlin Wall was always a symbol of the division of Europe," he said. "Its fall was seen as a continuation of the path to European unity."
"Some of the hopes that I and people in my country had then were realized, and some were not," Medvedev said.
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