Answer: Because he allowed separatist movements to spread throughout the Soviet republics.
Explanation:
The new secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, 54, was different: younger than his predecessors, he smiled and spoke suddenly. The change in the Kremlin was obvious. But no one could dream of the earthquake that man would provoke in the years that followed
Always struggling to balance between the radical reformers and the hard-line communists, the Western hero was not popular among the Soviets. Russia was plunged into a crisis of shortages that marked the time. In deciding to withdraw troops from Afghanistan - in February 1989 - ending a disastrous military campaign, Gorbachev eventually allowed separatist movements to spread throughout the Soviet republics. The winds of freedom reached Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany. Gorbachev undertook to respect the choice of these peoples - although he repressed places like Georgia.
