Medvedev: Not All Hopes Realized After Berlin Wall Fell

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev (file photo)Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says the fall of the Berlin Wall wasa positive event because it united Germany and ultimately all ofEurope, but he says not all hopes the event sparked have been realized.

Mr.Medvedev told the German magazine Der Spiegel that some of the hopes heand people in his country had at the time were realized, and some werenot. He expressed regret that relations between Russia and the rest ofEurope have not always been ideal.

The Russian president madehis remarks in an interview ahead of the 20th anniversary of the fallof the Berlin Wall. He will join other wold leaders Monday in Germanyfor the formal commemoration of the anniversary.

The wall,erected in 1961, was a symbol of the division between Western Europeand the Eastern communist bloc, until it came down on November 9, 1989.

InMoscow Saturday, communists marked the anniversary of the 1917 OctoberRevolution, which installed communists led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenininto power. Waving Soviet red flags with the hammer-and-sickle emblem,thousands marched down central Moscow streets.

Huge police units were deployed.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.