The last Soviet ambassador to watch the GDR dissolve
On the night of 9 November 1989, as the Berlin Wall came down, Kochemasov tried unsuccessfully to telephone Gorbachev, then Shevardnadze, for instructions. He did nothing.
Soviet politician and diplomat who served as Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers for 21 years (1962–1983), overseeing cultural and social policy in the Russian republic, while also chairing the All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments (1966–1983). Appointed Soviet ambassador to East Germany in 1983, he held this critical Cold War post through the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, when he was unable to reach Mikhail Gorbachev or Eduard Shevardnadze for instructions. In April 1990 he delivered to East German Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière the Soviet 'Non-paper' setting out eleven conditions for German reunification, representing Moscow's interests as the GDR dissolved.
Career Timeline
- 1946–1948First Secretary, Gorky Oblast Komsomol Committee
- 1949–1955Secretary, Komsomol Central Committee
- 1955–1960Counsellor / Minister-Counsellor, Soviet Embassy in the GDR
- 1961–1962Deputy / First Deputy Chairman, State Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries
- 1962–1983Deputy Chairman, RSFSR Council of Ministers
- 1966–1983Chairman, Presidium of the Central Council, All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments
- 1966–1983Candidate Member, CC CPSU
- 1983–1990Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to the GDR
- 1983–1990Member, CC CPSU