Velvet Revolution: Raw Footage of Soviet Troops Leaving Czechoslovakia (1990)

On 26 February 1990, Czechoslovakian President and face of the Velvet Revolution, Václav Havel met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow to sign a pact on the total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia. The same day, ITN crews in Czechoslovakia filmed Red Army troops as the first contingents left the country, bringing to an end the military occupation - called a “temporary deployment“ by Soviet leaders - that began with the USSR’s violent suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. This historic footage of Soviet withdrawal is presented alongside footage filmed two days before, on 24 February, of a pre-democracy rally led by Havel in Prague. #Czechoslovakia #VelvetRevolution #VáclavHavel #VaclavHavel #Communism #SovietUnion #USSR #Prague #Communist #Democracy #SovietWave #1990 #IronCurtain To license the footage featured in this clip, follow the link below: To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below: 🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest ITN Archive videos!) - @ITNArchive 🎥 Follow us on Twitter - 🎥 Like us on Facebook - 🎥 Check out our TikTok - @itnarchive1955