民主德国危机爆发初期,苏联更多地将危机看做刺激东德改革的契机而采取了置身事外的态度,同时也警告西方不得介入和搅动东德局势。东德危机全面爆发后,苏联一方面义正词严地对西德政府提出警告,另一方面试图通过更换东德领导人、支持东德新政等方式扶持统一社会党。柏林墙的突然倒塌迫使苏联继续通过不彻底的“警示外交”以及多边介入的努力谋求东德局势的稳定。得不到美国支持的科尔暂缓了煽动行为,跨大西洋两岸的不安因苏联的积极外交暂时得到了抑制。不过,戈尔巴乔夫无差别地推进东欧改革以及苏联自身经济力量的薄弱使苏联难以再胜任“保持两德统一大门关闭”的守门人的角色。 In the early days of the Democratic Germany crisis, the Soviet Union took the crisis more as an opportunity to stimulate the East German reform and at the same time warned that the West should not intervene and stifle the East German situation. After the crisis broke out in East Germany, the Soviet Union solemnly gave a warning to the West German government on the one hand, and tried to support the Socialist Unity party by replacing the East German leaders and supporting the East German New Deal on the other. The sudden collapse of the Berlin Wall forced the Soviet Union to continue its search for stability in the East German situation through an utter “cautionary diplomacy” and the efforts of multilateral intervention. Kohl, who was not supported by the United States, suspended his incitement and the unease on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean was temporarily suppressed by the active diplomacy of the Soviet Union. However, Gorbachev’s indiscriminate promotion of the reform in Eastern Europe and the weakness of the Soviet Union’s own economic forces have made it very difficult for the Soviet Union to serve as a gatekeeper for “keeping the two German reunification gates closed.”