Invasion: a look from Russia. Czechoslovakia, 08.1968

Prague Spring - the process of democratization of social and political life in Czechoslovakia - was enthusiastically supported by the majority of the population of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. On August 21, this process was interrupted by the invasion of the Troops of the five countries of the Warsaw Treaty - the USSR, the GDR, Poland, Romania and Hungary. In Soviet media, the invasion was presented as an act of fraternal assistance to the peoples of Czechoslovakia, unanimously approved by all the Soviet people. The Czech journalist Joseph Pazerka set his goal of finding out how the events of August 1968 were actually perceived in the USSR. The interviews with representatives of various strata of Soviet society - military personnel who participated in the invasion of journalists working in Prague in 1968, Moscow and Leningrad dissidents - are supplemented by articles of Czech historians and publicists commenting on these events.
Compiled by Joseph Pazerka