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Moscow kept Mr. Strougal on a short leash and forced a de facto power-sharing alliance with others, such as Czechoslovak Communist Party leader Gustav Husak.

Mr. Strougal was ousted in 1988 in an internal power struggle with Communist Party head Milos Jakes, who had replaced Husak.

As the daily demonstrations grew, Alexander Dubcek, the reformist leader of the Prague Spring of 1968, was cheered by 250,000 people as he called for the resignations of President Gustav Husak and the party leader, Milos Jakes.

From afar, Husak would see Ukraine’s destruction play out in the news daily.

Darya Husak, a 36-year-old artist and nursing student, moved from Ukraine to the U.S. when she was 18.