Initially, continuity was the hallmark of FRG–USSR relations after 1982. In 1984, however, the first real conscious chilling since the signing of the 1970 Moscow treaty occurred in bilateral relations, and this was to last until 1986. In January 1988 FRG–USSR relations entered a dynamic phase. It was a fast moving period which saw the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, followed eleven months later by the historic reunification of Germany.

This chapter is aimed at providing an overview of the post-Schmidt period of FRG–USSR political relations until the reunification of Germany in October 1990.

Ethnic Germans

After the end of the Schmidt period the numbers of ethnic Germans allowed out of the Soviet Union continued to drop: 1983 (1,447), 1984 (913), 1985 (460), 1986 (753). But from the middle of 1987 a sharp change of direction occurred. From January 1987 ethnic German applications were subject to a new regulation, however the proximate cause seems to have been President Richard von Weizsäcker's visit to Moscow in July 1987. For 1987 as a whole the numbers of ethnic Germans allowed out totalled 14,488. In 1988 the figures took another quantum leap upwards to 47,572. The explanation in terms of the analysis given in chapter 2 would seem to be a confluence of two linked factors favourable to increased emigration. One is fairly obvious: the improvements in East–West relations sought by the Gorbachev administration. The other is more internal to the Soviet Union.