Vladimir Shubin is Deputy Director of the Institute for African Studies, Russian academy of Sciences. He played a key role in the USSR's support for African liberation movements. He served as Secretary of the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee and Head of the Africa Section of the CPSU International Department. He was the Soviet representative to the first African National Congress (ANC) National Conference after its unbanning. He is author ofANC: A View from Moscow (Mayibuye Books, 1999). This interview was conducted during the conference A Decade of Freedom: Celebrating the Role of the International Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa's Freedom Struggleheld in Durban, South Africa, October 10-13, 2004. (Source: conference program)