Mitterrand Didn’t Call, but That’s Not a Hang-Up Now, Gorbachev Says
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Wednesday assured the French that he had taken no offense at Francois Mitterrand’s apparent loss of faith during the August coup attempt in Moscow.
During the coup, Mitterrand referred to the coup masterminds as the “new leaders” of the Soviet Union. After it failed, French politicians attacked him for having given the impression he felt the overthrow would succeed.
In the French translation of his book, “The Putsch,” Gorbachev wrote that Mitterrand “was supposed to call me” on Aug. 19, the day the coup began. “He didn’t, and I regret it still today,” the book says.
But on Wednesday, Gorbachev denied being irritated at Mitterrand’s failure to get in quick touch with him and told the TV network Antenne-2 that the words quoted in the book were not his.
Mitterrand told the network that he had tried to call Gorbachev but couldn’t get through.
Gorbachev and his wife Raisa arrived in France on Wednesday after he spoke at the opening session of the Middle East peace conference in Madrid.
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