Which Soviet leader declared that the USSR would not interfere in East Germany's affairs?

Mikhail Gorbachev declared that the USSR would not interfere in East Germany’s affairs. As Soviet leader, he rejected the earlier practice of using Soviet power to keep Eastern European governments in line.

Gorbachev’s policy of “new thinking” reduced the likelihood that Moscow would send troops to suppress reform movements. During his 1989 visit to East Germany, he emphasized that countries had to take responsibility for their own decisions. His position contrasted sharply with the Brezhnev Doctrine, under which the Soviet Union claimed a right to intervene when socialism appeared threatened.

That restraint was crucial during the protests that preceded the Wall’s opening. East German leaders could no longer rely on a Soviet military intervention as an automatic solution. Gorbachev did not personally order the Berlin Wall open, and the immediate border crisis resulted from East German decisions and confusion, but his non-intervention policy helped make the peaceful collapse of the regime possible.