1 The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign ...

your opinion," and went around the group of about 15 or so of us.
The very first person, because of his age, on his left was academician Dmitri Likhachev,
and Likhachev said, "This is very encouraging, Mr. Secretary. We hope that these
changes come about that you're advocating. We all advocate this. But I have to tell you
that even in your regime, under perestroika, there is great injustice in the Soviet Union,
still. There are people imprisoned unjustly even now."
The next person to speak was Sakharov. Sakharov was holding his head in his left hand
and his head was tilted toward Gorbachev. This was a characteristic pose of his. Sakharov
wouldn't say a word for what seemed a very long time, an eternity. It was only a few
seconds, obviously, but then he spoke and said, "Yes, Dmitri Likhachev is right. There is
great injustice in the Soviet Union, still, and you have promised to do much about it, and
here are 200 cases of people unjustly imprisoned." He stood up and put the filed dossiers
right in front of Gorbachev, right in front of his place at the table.
Gorbachev looked at this pile of dossiers and handed the file to Yakovlev, who seated
was next to him, and said, "I will look into these." He said in response, "Unfortunately,
the law lags behind the reality of society," Gorbachev said. As a footnote, 198 of the 200
cases came out positively. That is, they released 198 of the 200 persons in the files
Sakharov gave to him. So this was the beginning of the work of the foundation. We went
around the table turning to other subjects like the prospects for reductions in nuclear
arms.
I focus on Likhachev and Sakharov, because I found them the most appealing of the
group, although all of the perestroika group were extraordinary. I and the others of the
International Foundation saw them frequently and worked closely with them, and I think
it had a very profound influence. Likhachev was such an extraordinary decent, appealing
human being. He acted as a host of the foundation, when all of the members of the
foundation went to St. Petersburg. Leningrad was becoming St. Petersburg at that point. It
was called Petersburg at that point. The "Saint" was added towards the end of
Gorbachev's career.
Q: Where Petrograd and ...
MILLER: But you could see the symbol of change on the buses and taxis. They put
Petersburg on their public vehicles. It was not quite St. Petersburg. Anyway, we met in
the Academy of Sciences in Petersburg/Leningrad and in the places of the academy,
scientific institutes, where the nuclear scientists congregated, as well as academics from
other disciplines.
Sakharov, who I had admired since I first read his 1968 essay, Progress, Co-existence and
Intellectual Freedom, which really changed the world of my thinking on the possibilities
of rapprochement with the Soviet Union. In 1968 when a remarkable edition of the New
York Times printed the entire essay. Some time later; Sakharov signed a copy of this
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