Book reveals key Soviet debates
Mikhail Gorbachev's battle to push through far-reaching reforms in the Soviet Union is revealed in notes from key Communist Party meetings.
The book "Inside the Communist Party Central Committee Politburo" includes heated discussions about the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It covers the period from 1985, when Mr Gorbachev launched the perestroika reforms, to the USSR's fall in 1991.
The notes were made by Gorbachev aides on their own initiative.
"Nobody instructed us to do this, but nobody stopped us either, although all Politburo members knew perfectly well that since Stalin's time it was forbidden to record anything," one of the aides, Anatoly Chernyayev, told the BBC Russian service.
"We made notes of everything, apart from trivia, and tried to give a lively picture of events. They argued, swore at each other, roughed each other up," he said.
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The book "Inside the Communist Party Central Committee Politburo" includes heated discussions about the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It covers the period from 1985, when Mr Gorbachev launched the perestroika reforms, to the USSR's fall in 1991.
The notes were made by Gorbachev aides on their own initiative.
"Nobody instructed us to do this, but nobody stopped us either, although all Politburo members knew perfectly well that since Stalin's time it was forbidden to record anything," one of the aides, Anatoly Chernyayev, told the BBC Russian service.
"We made notes of everything, apart from trivia, and tried to give a lively picture of events. They argued, swore at each other, roughed each other up," he said.