Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Date | 16 November 1988 – 26 December 1991 (3 years, 1 month, and 10 days) |
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^ Then romanized as Byelorussia (Russian: Белоруссия). : Туркмения).^ Then romanized as Kirghizia (Russian: Киргизия). ^ Then romanized as Moldavia (Russian: Молдавия). ^ Then romanized as Turkmenia (Russian |
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The
The process began with growing unrest in the country's various constituent national republics developing into an
During the failed
In the aftermath of the Cold War, several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with Russia and formed multilateral organizations such as the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Union State, for economic and military cooperation. On the other hand, the Baltic states and all of the other former Warsaw Pact states became part of the European Union (EU) and joined NATO, while some of the other former Soviet republics like Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have been publicly expressing interest in following the same path since the 1990s, despite Russian attempts to persuade them otherwise.
Background
1985: Gorbachev elected
On 1 July 1985, Gorbachev sidelined his main rival by removing
1986: Sakharov returns
Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. On 23 December 1986 Andrei Sakharov, the most prominent Soviet dissident, returned to Moscow shortly after receiving a personal telephone call from Gorbachev telling him that after almost seven years his internal exile for defying the authorities was over.[11]
1987: One-party democracy
At the 28–30 January Central Committee plenum, Gorbachev suggested a new policy of demokratizatsiya throughout Soviet society. He proposed that future Communist Party elections should offer a choice between multiple candidates, elected by secret ballot. However, the party delegates at the Plenum watered down Gorbachev's proposal, and democratic choice within the Communist Party was never significantly implemented.
Gorbachev also radically expanded the scope of glasnost and stated that no subject was off limits for open discussion in the media. On 7 February, dozens of political prisoners were freed in the first group release since the Khrushchev Thaw in the mid-1950s.[12]
On 10 September,
Protest activity
In the years leading up to the dissolution, various protests and resistance movements occurred or took hold throughout the Soviet Union, which were variously suppressed or tolerated.
The CTAG (Latvian: Cilvēktiesību aizstāvības grupa, lit. 'Human Rights Defense Group') Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja. Helsinki-86 was the first openly anti-Communist organization in the U.S.S.R., and the first openly organized opposition to the Soviet regime, setting an example for other ethnic minorities' pro-independence movements.[16]
On 26 December 1986, 300 Latvian youths gathered in Riga's Cathedral Square and marched down Lenin Avenue toward the Freedom Monument, shouting, "Soviet Russia out! Free Latvia!" Security forces confronted the marchers, and several police vehicles were overturned.[17]
The
On 6 May 1987, Pamyat, a Russian nationalist group, held an unsanctioned demonstration in Moscow. The authorities did not break up the demonstration and even kept traffic out of the demonstrators' way while they marched to an impromptu meeting with Boris Yeltsin.[19]
On 25 July 1987, 300 Crimean Tatars staged a noisy demonstration near the Kremlin Wall for several hours, calling for the right to return to their homeland, from which they were deported in 1944; police and soldiers looked on.[20]
On 23 August 1987, the 48th anniversary of the secret protocols of the 1939
On 14 June 1987, about 5,000 people gathered again at Freedom Monument in
On 17 October 1987, about 3,000 Armenians demonstrated in
Timeline
1988
Moscow loses control
In 1988, Gorbachev started to lose control of two regions of the Soviet Union, as the Baltic republics were now leaning towards independence, and the Caucasus descended into violence and civil war.
On 1 July 1988, the fourth and last day of a bruising 19th Party Conference, Gorbachev won the backing of the tired delegates for his last-minute proposal to create a new supreme legislative body called the
On 29 November 1988, the Soviet Union ceased to jam all foreign radio stations, allowing Soviet citizens – for the first time since a brief period in the 1960s – to have unrestricted access to news sources beyond Communist Party control.[26]
Baltic republics
In 1986 and 1987, Latvia had been in the vanguard of the Baltic states in pressing for reform. In 1988 Estonia took over the lead role with the foundation of the Soviet Union's first popular front and starting to influence state policy.
The
On 2 October, the Popular Front formally launched its political platform at a two-day congress. Väljas attended, gambling that the Front could help Estonia become a model of economic and political revival, while moderating separatist and other radical tendencies.[28] On 16 November 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted a declaration of national sovereignty under which Estonian laws would take precedence over those of the Soviet Union.[29] Estonia's parliament also laid claim to the republic's natural resources including land, inland waters, forests, mineral deposits, and to the means of industrial production, agriculture, construction, state banks, transportation, and municipal services within the territory of Estonia's borders.[30] At the same time the Estonian Citizens' Committees started registration of citizens of the Republic of Estonia to carry out the elections of the Congress of Estonia.
The
The Popular Front of Lithuania, called
Rebellion in the Caucasus
On 20 February 1988, after a week of growing demonstrations in
Gorbachev refused to make any changes to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, which remained part of Azerbaijan. He instead sacked the Communist Party Leaders in both Republics in response – on 21 May 1988,
The rebellion of fellow Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had an immediate effect in Armenia itself. Daily demonstrations, which began in the Armenian capital
On the same day, when Gorbachev replaced Baghirov with Vezirov as First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, he also replaced
On 7 December 1988, the
In
Western republics
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2017) |
Beginning in February 1988, the Democratic Movement of Moldova (formerly Moldavia) organized public meetings, demonstrations, and song festivals, which gradually grew in size and intensity. In the streets, the center of public manifestations was the Stephen the Great Monument in Chișinău, and the adjacent park harboring Aleea Clasicilor (The "Alley of Classics [of Literature]"). On 15 January 1988, in a tribute to Mihai Eminescu at his bust on the Aleea Clasicilor, Anatol Șalaru submitted a proposal to continue the meetings. In the public discourse, the movement called for national awakening, freedom of speech, the revival of Moldovan traditions, and for the attainment of official status for the Romanian language and return to the Latin alphabet. The transition from "movement" (an informal association) to "front" (a formal association) was seen as a natural "upgrade" once a movement gained momentum with the public, and the Soviet authorities no longer dared to crack down on it.
On 26 April 1988, about 500 people participated in a march organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Club on Kyiv's
On 16 June 1988, 6,000 to 8,000 people gathered in Lviv to hear speakers declare no confidence in the local list of delegates to the 19th Communist Party conference, to begin on 29 June. On 21 June, a rally in Lviv attracted 50,000 people who had heard about a revised delegate list. Authorities attempted to disperse the rally in front of Druzhba Stadium. On 7 July, 10,000 to 20,000 people witnessed the launch of the Democratic Front to Promote Perestroika. On 17 July, a group of 10,000 gathered in the village
On 13 November 1988, approximately 10,000 people attended an officially sanctioned meeting organized by the cultural heritage organization Spadschyna, the
The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1988 as a political party and cultural movement for democracy and independence, similar to the Baltic republics' popular fronts. The discovery of mass graves in Kurapaty outside Minsk by historian Zianon Pazniak, the Belarusian Popular Front's first leader, gave additional momentum to the pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus.[50] It claimed that the NKVD performed secret killings in Kurapaty.[51] Initially the Front had significant visibility because its numerous public actions almost always ended in clashes with the police and the KGB.
1989
Moscow: limited democratization
Spring 1989 saw the people of the Soviet Union exercising a democratic choice, albeit limited, for the first time since 1917,[
This was also the year that
The month-long nomination period for candidates for the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union lasted until 24 January 1989. For the next month, selection among the 7,531 district nominees took place at meetings organized by constituency-level electoral commissions. On 7 March, a final list of 5,074 candidates was published; about 85% were Party members.
In the two weeks prior to the 1,500 district polls, elections to fill 750 reserved seats of public organizations, contested by 880 candidates, were held. Of these seats, 100 were allocated to the CPSU, 100 to the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, 75 to the Communist Youth Union (Komsomol), 75 to the Committee of Soviet Women, 75 to the War and Labour Veterans' Organization, and 325 to other organizations such as the Academy of Sciences. The selection process was done in April.
In the 26 March general elections, voter participation was an impressive 89.8%, and 1,958 (including 1,225 district seats) of the 2,250 CPD seats were filled. In district races, run-off elections were held in 76 constituencies on 2 and 9 April and fresh elections were organized on 14 and 20 April to 23 May,[53] in the 199 remaining constituencies where the required absolute majority was not attained.[25] While most CPSU-endorsed candidates were elected, more than 300 lost to independent candidates such as Yeltsin, the physicist Andrei Sakharov and the lawyer Anatoly Sobchak.
In the first session of the new Congress of People's Deputies (from 25 May to 9 June), hardliners retained control but reformers used the legislature as a platform for debate and criticism, which was broadcast live and uncensored. This transfixed the population since nothing like such a freewheeling debate had ever been witnessed in the Soviet Union. On 29 May, Yeltsin managed to secure a seat on the Supreme Soviet,
On 30 May 1989, Gorbachev proposed that local elections across the country, scheduled for November 1989, be postponed until early 1990 because there were still no laws governing the conduct of such elections. This was seen by some as a concession to local Party officials, who feared they would be swept from power in a wave of anti-establishment sentiment.[55]
On 25 October 1989, the Supreme Soviet voted to eliminate special seats for the Communist Party and other official organizations in union-level and republic-level elections, responding to sharp popular criticism that such reserved slots were undemocratic. After vigorous debate, the 542-member Supreme Soviet passed the measure 254–85 (with 36 abstentions). The decision required a constitutional amendment, ratified by the full congress, which met 12–25 December. It also passed measures that would allow direct elections for presidents of each of the 15 constituent republics. Gorbachev strongly opposed such a move during debate but was defeated.
The vote expanded the power of republics in local elections, enabling them to decide for themselves how to organize voting. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had already proposed laws for direct presidential elections. Local elections in all the republics had already been scheduled to take place between December and March 1990.[56]
The six
Baltic Chain of Freedom
The
Just months after the Baltic Way protests, in December 1989, the
In the March 1989 elections to the Congress of Peoples Deputies, 36 of the 42 deputies from Lithuania were candidates from the independent national movement Sąjūdis. That was the greatest victory for any national organization within the Soviet Union and was a devastating revelation to the Lithuanian Communist Party of its growing unpopularity.[59]
On 7 December 1989, the Communist Party of Lithuania, under the leadership of Algirdas Brazauskas, split from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and abandoned its claim to have a constitutional "leading role" in politics. A smaller loyalist faction of the Communist Party, headed by hardliner Mykolas Burokevičius, was established and remained affiliated with the party. However, Lithuania's governing Communist Party was formally independent from Moscow's control, a first for a Soviet republics and a political earthquake that prompted Gorbachev to arrange a visit to Lithuania the following month in a futile attempt to bring the local party back under control.[60] The following year, the Communist Party lost power altogether in multiparty parliamentary elections, which had caused Vytautas Landsbergis to become the first noncommunist leader (Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania) of Lithuania since its forced incorporation into the Soviet Union.
Caucasus
On 16 July 1989, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan held its first congress and elected Abulfaz Elchibey, who would become president, as its chairman.[61] On 19 August, 600,000 protesters jammed Baku's Lenin Square (now Azadliq Square) to demand the release of political prisoners.[62] In the second half of 1989, weapons were handed out in Nagorno-Karabakh. When Karabakhis got hold of small arms to replace hunting rifles and crossbows, casualties began to mount; bridges were blown up, roads were blockaded, and hostages were taken.[63]
In a new and effective tactic, the Popular Front launched a rail blockade of Armenia,[64] which caused petrol and food shortages because 85 percent of Armenia's freight came from Azerbaijan.[65] Under pressure from the Popular Front the Communist authorities in Azerbaijan started making concessions. On 25 September, they passed a sovereignty law that gave precedence to Azerbaijani law, and on 4 October, the Popular Front was permitted to register as a legal organization as long as it lifted the blockade. Transport communications between Azerbaijan and Armenia never fully recovered.[65] Tensions continued to escalate and on 29 December, Popular Front activists seized local party offices in Jalilabad, wounding dozens.
On 31 May 1989, the 11 members of the Karabakh Committee, who had been imprisoned without trial in Moscow's
On 7 April 1989, Soviet troops and armored personnel carriers were sent to Tbilisi after more than 100,000 people protested in front of Communist Party headquarters with banners calling for Georgia to secede from the Soviet Union and for Abkhazia to be fully integrated into Georgia.[68] On 9 April 1989, troops attacked the demonstrators; some 20 people were killed and more than 200 wounded.[69][70] This event radicalized Georgian politics, prompting many to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule. Given the abuses by members of the armed forces and police, Moscow acted fast. On 14 April, Gorbachev removed Jumber Patiashvili as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party as a result of the killings and replaced him with former Georgian KGB chief Givi Gumbaridze.
On 16 July 1989, in
On 17 November 1989, the Supreme Council of Georgia held its fall plenary session, which lasted two days. One of the resolutions that came out of it was as a declaration against what it called an "illegal" accession into the Soviet Union of the country 68 years ago, forced against its will by the Red Army, the CPSU and the All-Russian Council of People's Commissars.
Western republics
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
On 26 March 1989, elections to the Congress of People's Deputies, 15 of the 46 Moldovan deputies elected for congressional seats in Moscow were supporters of the Nationalist/Democratic movement.[72] The Popular Front of Moldova founding congress took place two months later, on 20 May. During its second congress (30 June – 1 July 1989), Ion Hadârcă was elected its president.
A series of demonstrations that became known as the
In Ukraine,
In late February, large public rallies took place in Kyiv to protest the election laws, on the eve of the 26 March elections to the USSR Congress of People's Deputies, and to call for the resignation of the first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, lampooned as "the mastodon of stagnation". The demonstrations coincided with a visit to Ukraine by Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. On 26 February 1989, between 20,000 and 30,000 people participated in an unsanctioned ecumenical memorial service in Lviv, marking the anniversary of the death of 19th-century Ukrainian artist and nationalist Taras Shevchenko.
On 4 March 1989, the Memorial Society, committed to honoring the victims of Stalinism and cleansing society of Soviet practices, was founded in Kyiv. A public rally was held the next day. On 12 March, A pre-election meeting organized in Lviv by the Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the
From 20 to 23 April 1989, pre-election meetings were held in Lviv for four consecutive days, drawing crowds of up to 25,000. The action included a one-hour warning strike at eight local factories and institutions. It was the first labor strike in Lviv since 1944. On 3 May, a pre-election rally attracted 30,000 in Lviv. On 7 May, The Memorial Society organized a mass meeting at
From mid-May to September 1989, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic hunger strikers staged protests on Moscow's
On 19 August 1989, the Russian Orthodox Parish of Saints Peter and Paul announced it would be switching to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. On 2 September 1989, tens of thousands across Ukraine protested a draft election law that reserved special seats for the Communist Party and for other official organizations for parliamentary seats: 50,000 in Lviv, 40,000 in Kyiv, 10,000 in
On 1 October 1989, a peaceful demonstration of 10,000 to 15,000 people was violently dispersed by police constables in front of Lviv's Druzhba Stadium, where a concert celebrating the Soviet "reunification" of Ukrainian lands was being held. On 10 October, Ivano-Frankivsk was the site of a pre-election protest attended by 30,000 people. On 15 October, several thousand people gathered in
On 24 October, the union Supreme Soviet passed a law eliminating special seats for Communist Party and other official organizations' representatives in parliament. On 26 October, twenty factories in Lviv held strikes and meetings to protest the police brutality of 1 October and the authorities' unwillingness to prosecute those responsible. From 26 to 28 October, the Zelenyi Svit (Friends of the Earth – Ukraine) environmental association held its founding congress, and on 27 October the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law eliminating the special status of party and other official organizations as deputies of parliament.
On 28 October 1989, the Ukrainian Parliament decreed that effective 1 January 1990, Ukrainian would be the official language of Ukraine, while Russian would be used for communication between ethnic groups. On the same day, The Congregation of the Church of the Transfiguration in Lviv left the Russian Orthodox Church and proclaimed itself the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The following day, thousands attended a memorial service at Demianiv Laz, and a temporary marker was placed to indicate that a monument to the "victims of the repressions of 1939–1941" soon would be erected.
In mid-November, The Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society was officially registered. On 19 November 1989, a public gathering in Kyiv attracted thousands of mourners, friends, and family to the reburial in Ukraine of three inmates of the infamous
On 10 December 1989, the first officially sanctioned observance of International Human Rights Day was held in Lviv. On 17 December, an estimated 30,000 attended a public meeting organized in Kyiv by Rukh in memory of Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov, who died on 14 December. On 26 December, the Supreme Soviet of Ukrainian SSR adopted a law designating Christmas, Easter, and the Feast of the Holy Trinity official holidays.[49]
In May 1989, a Soviet dissident, Mustafa Dzhemilev, was elected to lead the newly founded Crimean Tatar National Movement. He also led the campaign for the return of Crimean Tatars to their homeland in Crimea after 45 years of exile.
On 24 January 1989, the Soviet authorities in Byelorussia agreed to the demand of the democratic opposition (the Belarusian Popular Front) to build a monument to thousands of people shot by Stalin-era police in the Kuropaty Forest near Minsk in the 1930s.[75]
On 30 September 1989, thousands of Belarusians, denouncing local leaders, marched through Minsk to demand additional cleanup of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster site in Ukraine. Up to 15,000 protesters wearing armbands bearing radioactivity symbols and carrying the banned red-and-white national flag used by the government-in-exile filed through torrential rain in defiance of a ban by local authorities. Later, they gathered in the city center near the government's headquarters, where speakers demanded the resignation of Yefrem Sokolov, the republic's Communist Party leader, and called for the evacuation of half a million people from the contaminated zones.[76]
Strike action of Kuzbass and Donbass miners
Started in 1989
Central Asian republics
Thousands of Soviet troops were sent to the
In Kazakhstan on 19 June 1989, young men carrying guns, firebombs, iron bars, and stones rioted in Zhanaozen, causing a number of deaths. The youths tried to seize a police station and a water-supply station. They brought public transportation to a halt and shut down various shops and industries.[78] By 25 June, the rioting had spread to five other towns near the Caspian Sea. A mob of about 150 people armed with sticks, stones and metal rods attacked the police station in Mangishlak, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) from Zhanaozen before they were dispersed by government troops flown in by helicopters. Mobs of young people also rampaged through Yeraliev, Shepke, Fort-Shevchenko and Kulsary, where they poured flammable liquid on trains housing temporary workers and set them on fire.[79]
With the government and CPSU shocked by the riots, on 22 June 1989, as a result of the riots, Gorbachev removed Gennady Kolbin (the ethnic Russian whose appointment caused riots in December 1986) as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan for his poor handling of the June events and replaced him with Nursultan Nazarbayev, an ethnic Kazakh who went on to lead Kazakhstan as the Soviet Republic and subsequently to independence. Nazarbayev would lead Kazakhstan for 27 years until he stepped down as president on 19 March 2019.
1990
Moscow loses five republics
On 7 February 1990, the Central Committee of the CPSU accepted Gorbachev's recommendation that the party give up its
- In Lithuania, to Sąjūdis, on 24 February (run-off elections on 4, 7, 8 and 10 March)
- In Moldova, to the Popular Front of Moldova, on 25 February
- In Estonian Popular Front, on 18 March
- In Latvian Popular Front, on 18 March (run-off elections on 25 March 1 April, and 29 April)
- In Round Table-Free Georgia, on 28 October (run-off election on 11 November)
The constituent republics began to declare their fledgling states' sovereignty and began a "war of laws" with the Moscow central government; they rejected union-wide legislation that conflicted with local laws, asserted control over their local economies, and refused to pay taxes to the Soviet government. Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania, also exempted Lithuanian men from
Rivalry between USSR and RSFSR
On 4 March 1990, the
Yeltsin was supported by democratic and conservative members of the Supreme Soviet, who sought power in the developing political situation. A new power struggle emerged between the RSFSR and the Soviet Union. On 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted a declaration of sovereignty. On 12 July 1990, Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party in a dramatic speech at the 28th Congress.[83]
Baltic republics
Gorbachev's visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on 11–13 January 1990, provoked a pro-independence rally attended by an estimated 250,000 people.
On 11 March, the newly elected parliament of the Lithuanian SSR elected
On 25 March 1990, the
On 30 March 1990, the Estonian Supreme Council declared the
On 3 April 1990, Edgar Savisaar of the Popular Front of Estonia was elected chairman of the Council of Ministers (the equivalent of being Prime Minister), and soon a majority-pro independence cabinet was formed.
Latvia declared the restoration of independence on 4 May 1990, with the declaration stipulating a transitional period to complete independence. The Declaration stated that although Latvia had de facto lost its independence in World War II, the country had de jure remained a sovereign country because the annexation had been unconstitutional and against the will of the Latvian people. The declaration also stated that Latvia would base its relationship with the Soviet Union on the basis of the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty of 1920, in which the Soviet Union recognized Latvia's independence as inviolable "for all future time". 4 May is now a national holiday in Latvia.
On 7 May 1990,
Оn 8 May 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted a law officially declaring the reinstatement of the 1938 Constitution of the independent Republic of Estonia.[86]
Caucasus
During the first week of January 1990, in the Azerbaijani
Ethnic tensions had escalated between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis in spring and summer 1988.
Civil liberties suffered. Soviet Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov stated that the use of force in Baku was intended to prevent the de facto takeover of the Azerbaijani government by the non-communist opposition, to prevent their victory in upcoming free elections (scheduled for March 1990), to destroy them as a political force, and to ensure that the Communist government remained in power.
The army had gained control of Baku, but by 20 January it had essentially lost Azerbaijan. Nearly the entire population of Baku turned out for the mass funerals of "martyrs" buried in the Alley of Martyrs.
Following the hardliners' takeover, the 30 September 1990 elections (runoffs on 14 October) were characterized by intimidation; several Popular Front candidates were jailed, two were murdered, and unabashed ballot stuffing took place, even in the presence of Western observers.[95] The election results reflected the threatening environment; out of the 350 members, 280 were Communists, with only 45 opposition candidates from the Popular Front and other non-communist groups, who together formed a Democratic Bloc ("Dembloc").[96] In May 1990 Mutalibov was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet unopposed.[97]
On 23 August 1990, the
Western republics
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
On 21 January 1990,
On 6 April 1990, the Lviv City Council voted to return
On 22 June 1990,
On 23 July 1990, Leonid Kravchuk was elected to replace Ivashko as parliament chairman. On 30 July, Parliament adopted a resolution on military service ordering Ukrainian soldiers "in regions of national conflict such as Armenia and Azerbaijan" to return to Ukrainian territory. On August 1, Parliament voted overwhelmingly to shut down the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. On 3 August, it adopted a law on the economic sovereignty of the Ukrainian republic. On 19 August, the first Ukrainian Catholic liturgy in 44 years was celebrated at St. George Cathedral. On 5–7 September, the International Symposium on the Great Famine of 1932–1933 was held in Kyiv. On 8 September, The first "Youth for Christ" rally since 1933 took place held in Lviv, with 40,000 participants. In 28–30 September, the Green Party of Ukraine held its founding congress. On 30 September, nearly 100,000 people marched in Kyiv to protest against the new union treaty proposed by Gorbachev.
On 1 October 1990, parliament reconvened amid mass protests calling for the resignations of Kravchuk and of Prime Minister Vitaliy Masol, a leftover from the previous régime. Students erected a tent city on October Revolution Square, where they continued the protest.
On 17 October Masol resigned, and on 20 October,
On 25–28 October 1990, Rukh held its second congress and declared that its principal goal was the "renewal of independent statehood for Ukraine". On 28 October UAOC faithful, supported by Ukrainian Catholics, demonstrated near St. Sophia's Cathedral as newly elected Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Aleksei and Metropolitan Filaret celebrated liturgy at the shrine. On 1 November, the leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, respectively, Metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk and Patriarch Mstyslav, met in Lviv during anniversary commemorations of the 1918 proclamation of the
On 18 November 1990, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church enthroned Mstyslav as Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine during ceremonies at Saint Sophia's Cathedral. Also on 18 November, Canada announced that its consul-general to Kyiv would be Ukrainian-Canadian Nestor Gayowsky. On 19 November, the United States announced that its consul to Kyiv would be Ukrainian-American John Stepanchuk. On 19 November, the chairmen of the Ukrainian and Russian parliaments, respectively, Kravchuk and Yeltsin, signed a 10-year bilateral pact. In early December 1990 the Party of Democratic Rebirth of Ukraine was founded; on 15 December, the Democratic Party of Ukraine was founded.[101]
On 27 July 1990 the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR passed a Declaration of State Sovereignty, asserting its sovereignty as a republic inside the Soviet Union.
Central Asian republics
On 12–14 February 1990, anti-government riots took place in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, as tensions rose between nationalist Tajiks and ethnic Armenian refugees, after the Sumgait pogrom and anti-Armenian riots in Azerbaijan in 1988. Demonstrations sponsored by the nationalist Rastokhez movement turned violent. Radical economic and political reforms were demanded by the protesters, who torched government buildings; shops and other businesses were attacked and looted. During these riots 26 people were killed and 565 injured.
In June 1990, the city of
In
1991
Moscow's crisis
On 14 January 1991,
Russia's President Boris Yeltsin
On 12 June 1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with 57 percent of the popular vote in the country's first Presidential election, defeating Gorbachev's preferred candidate, Nikolai Ryzhkov, who won 16 percent of the vote. Following Yeltsin's election as president, the RSFSR declared itself autonomous from the Soviet Union.[109] In his election campaign, Yeltsin criticized the "dictatorship of the center", but did not yet suggest that he would introduce a market economy.
The Caucasus: Georgia takes the lead
In response to the USSR-wide referendum, on 31 March 1991, an independence referendum was held on the matter of Georgian independence. Boycotted by the South Ossetian and Abkhaz minorities, who showed up in the all-Union plebiscite earlier that month, a record 99.5% of Georgian voters voted for the restoration of Georgian independence as against 0.5% against. Voter turnout was 90.6%.[110]
On 9 April 1991, two years after the massacres in Tbilisi and a year and two months after Lithuania's declaration of restored independence, the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR in plenary session declared the formal reconstitution of Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union, 70 years after the Soviet Armed Forces overthrew the Democratic Republic. This landmark declaration of independence by Georgia made it the first of the Caucasian republics to officially secede from the Soviet Union and the 3rd republic overall so far.
Baltic republics
On 13 January 1991, Soviet troops, along with the
The bloody attacks in Lithuania prompted Latvians to organize defensive barricades (the events are still today known as "The Barricades") blocking access to strategically important buildings and bridges in Riga. Soviet attacks in the ensuing days resulted in six deaths and several injuries; one person died later of their wounds.
Оn 9 February, Lithuania held an independence referendum with 93.2% voting in favor of independence.
On 12 February, the independence of Lithuania was recognized by Iceland.[111]
On 3 March, a referendum was held on the independence of the Republic of Estonia, which was attended by those who lived in Estonia before the Soviet annexation and their descendants, as well as persons who have received the so-called "green cards" of the Congress of Estonia.[112] 77.8% of those who voted supported the idea of restoring independence.[113]
On 11 March, Denmark recognized Estonia's independence.[114]
When Estonia reaffirmed its independence during the coup (see below) in the dark hours of 20 August 1991, at 11:03 pm Tallinn time, many Estonian volunteers surrounded the Tallinn TV Tower in an attempt to prepare to cut off the communication channels after the Soviet troops seized it and refused to be intimidated by the Soviet troops. When Edgar Savisaar confronted the Soviet troops for ten minutes, they finally retreated from the TV tower after a failed resistance against the Estonians.
August Coup
Faced with growing
More radical reformists were increasingly convinced that a rapid transition to a market economy was required, even if the eventual outcome meant the disintegration of the Soviet Union into several independent states. Independence also accorded with Yeltsin's desires as president of the RSFSR, as well as those of regional and local authorities to get rid of Moscow's pervasive control. In contrast to the reformers' lukewarm response to the treaty, the conservatives, "patriots", and Russian nationalists of the USSR – still strong within the CPSU and the military – were opposed to weakening the Soviet state and its centralized power structure.
On 19 August 1991, Gorbachev's vice president,
Thousands of Muscovites came out to defend the
After three days, on 21 August 1991, the coup collapsed. The organizers were detained and Gorbachev was reinstated as president, albeit with his power much depleted.[116][117]
Fall: August to December
On 24 August 1991, Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the CPSU
The Soviet Union collapsed with dramatic speed in the last quarter of 1991. Between August and December, 10 republics seceded from the union, largely out of fear of another coup. By the end of September, Gorbachev no longer had the ability to influence events outside of Moscow. He was challenged even there by Yeltsin, who had begun taking over what remained of the Soviet government, including the Kremlin.
On 17 September 1991, General Assembly resolution numbers 46/4, 46/5, and 46/6 admitted Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the United Nations, conforming to Security Council resolution numbers 709, 710, and 711 passed on 12 September without a vote.[120][121]
On 6 November, Yeltsin – who had by then taken over much of the Soviet government – issued a decree banning all Communist Party activities on Russian territory.[122]
By 7 November 1991, most newspapers referred to the 'former Soviet Union'.[123]
The final round of the Soviet Union's collapse began on 1 December 1991. That day, a Ukrainian popular referendum resulted in 91 percent of Ukraine's voters voting to affirm the independence declaration passed in August and formally secede from the Union. The secession of Ukraine, long second only to Russia in economic and political power, ended any realistic chance of Gorbachev keeping the Soviet Union together even on a limited scale. The leaders of the three Slavic republics, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia), agreed to discuss possible alternatives to the union.
On 8 December, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus secretly met in
On 10 December, the agreement was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine[124] and the Supreme Council of Belarus.[125]
On 12 December, the
On 16 December 1991, the
On 17 December 1991, along with 28 European countries, the
On 18 December, the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Council of Republics) adopted a statement, according to which it accepts with understanding the Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States and considers it a real guarantee of a way out of the acute political and economic crisis.[142]
Gorbachev met with Yeltsin and accepted the fait accompli of the Soviet Union's dissolution. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR adopted a statute to change Russia's legal name from "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" to "Russian Federation", showing that it was now a fully sovereign non-communist state.
Doubts remained over whether the Belavezha Accords had legally dissolved the Soviet Union, since they were signed by only three republics. However, on 21 December, representatives of 11 of the 12 remaining republics – all except Georgia – signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and formally established the CIS.[143] They also "accepted" Gorbachev's resignation.[144] The command of the Armed Forces of the USSR was entrusted to the Minister of Defense Yevgeny Shaposhnikov.[145][146] Even at this moment, Gorbachev had not made any formal plans to leave the scene yet. However, with a majority of republics now agreeing that the Soviet Union no longer existed, Gorbachev bowed to the inevitable, telling CBS News that he would resign as soon as he saw that the CIS was indeed a reality.[147]
In a nationally televised speech in the evening of 25 December, Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union – or, as he put it, "I hereby discontinue my activities at the post of President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."[148] He declared the office extinct, and ceded all of its powers (such as control of the nuclear arsenal)[149] to Yeltsin.
On the night of 25 December, at 7:35 p.m. Moscow time, after Gorbachev appeared on television, the Soviet flag was lowered[150] the State Anthem of the Soviet Union was played for the last time[citation needed] (the tune itself returned in December 2000 thanks to the support of Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, but with new lyrics "selected to evoke and eulogize the history and traditions of Russia."),[151] and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place at 7:45 pm,[152] symbolically marking the end of the Soviet Union. In his parting words, Gorbachev defended his record on domestic reform and détente, but conceded, "The old system collapsed before a new one had time to start working."[153] On that same day, the President of the United States George H. W. Bush held a brief televised speech officially recognizing the independence of the 11 remaining republics.
Gorbachev's speech, as well as the replacement of the Soviet flag with the Russian flag, symbolically marked the end of the Soviet Union. However, the final legal step in the Soviet Union's demise came on 26 December, when the
Other issues were also addressed at Alma-Ata on 21 December 1991, including UN membership. In a document additional to the main Alma-Ata Declaration, Russia was authorized to assume the Soviet Union's UN membership, including its permanent seat on the
In April 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia refused to ratify the Belovezhskaya Agreements[160][161][162] and to exclude references to the Constitution and laws of the USSR from the text of the Constitution of the RSFSR.[131][163] According to some Russian politicians, this was one of the reasons for the political crisis of September – October 1993.[131][161][163] In a referendum on 12 December 1993, a new Russian constitution was adopted, in which there was no mention of the union state.
Consequences
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Economic decline, hunger, and excess mortality
In the decades following the end of the Cold War, only five or six of the post-Soviet states are on a path to joining the wealthy capitalist states of the West, and most are falling behind, some to such an extent that over 50 years will be needed before they catch up to how they were before the end of communism.[164][165] However, virtually all the former Soviet republics were able to turn their economies around and increase GDP to multiple times what it was under the USSR.[166] In a 2001 study by the economist Steven Rosefielde, he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the Washington Consensus.[167] Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged recessions after shock therapy,[168] with poverty increasing more than tenfold.[169] Catastrophic drops in caloric intake followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[170]
Post-Soviet conflicts
According to the scholar Marcel H. Van Herpen, the end of the Soviet Union also marked the end of Russian colonialism and imperialism.[171]
As the Soviet Union began to collapse, social disintegration and political instability fueled a surge in ethnic conflict.[172] Social and economic disparities, along with ethnic differences, created an upsurge in nationalism within groups and discrimination between groups. In particular, disputes over territorial boundaries have been the source of conflict between states experiencing political transition and upheaval. Territorial conflicts can involve several different issues: the reunification of ethnic groups which have been separated, restoration of territorial rights to those who experienced forced deportation, and restoration of boundaries arbitrarily changed during the Soviet era.[173] Territorial disputes remain significant points of controversy as minority groups consistently oppose election outcomes and seek autonomy and self-determination. In addition to territorial disputes and other structural causes of conflict, legacies from the Soviet and pre-Soviet eras, along with the suddenness of the actual sociopolitical change, have resulted in conflict throughout the region.[173] As each group experiences dramatic economic reform and political democratization, there has been a surge in nationalism and interethnic conflict. Overall, the fifteen independent states that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union face problems stemming from uncertain identities, contested boundaries, apprehensive minorities, and an overbearing Russian hegemony.[174]
China
After decades of hardship following the
On the eve of a 2013
Vietnam
From 1978 until 1991, Vietnam was a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), and was therefore economically dependent on the Soviet Union and other Comecon members. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (and with it Comecon), Vietnam was forced to liberalize its economy.[188]
Cuba
The "Special Period", officially known as the "Special Period in the Time of Peace" was an extended period of
During its existence, the Soviet Union provided Cuba with large amounts of oil, food, and machinery. In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's gross domestic product shrunk 35%, imports and exports both fell over 80%, and many domestic industries shrank considerably.[191] In a speculated attempt to re-join the IMF and the World Bank, executive director Jacques de Groote and another IMF official were invited to Havana in late 1993.[192] After assessing the economic situation in the country they concluded that from 1989 to 1993, Cuba's economic decline was more grave than that experienced by any other socialist Eastern European country.[193]
In 1993 a series of economic reforms began to go into effect, initially enacted to offset the economic imbalances which was a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[194] The main aspect of these reforms was to legalize the then illegal U.S. Dollar and regulate its usage in the island's economy.[195]
North Korea
In 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved, it ended all aid and trade concessions such as cheap oil to North Korea.[196] Without Soviet aid, the flow of imports to the North Korean agricultural sector ended, and the government proved to be too inflexible to respond.[197] Energy imports fell by 75%.[198] The economy went into a downward spiral, with imports and exports falling in tandem. Flooded coal mines required electricity to operate pumps, and the shortage of coal worsened the shortage of electricity. Agriculture reliant on electrically powered irrigation systems, artificial fertilizers and pesticides was hit particularly hard by the economic collapse.[199][200]
Israel
Between 1989 and 2006, about 1.6 million Soviet Jews and their non-Jewish spouses and their relatives, as defined by the Law of Return, emigrated from the former Soviet Union. About 979,000, or 61%, migrated to Israel.[201]
Afghanistan
As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, it also lost support to Mohammad Najibullah's regime in Afghanistan following the withdrawal in 1989.[202] The end of Soviet war in Afghanistan would lead into a continuing multi-sided civil war, only for the Taliban to rise in 1996. Because of this, U.S. policies in the war are also thought to have contributed to a "blowback" of unintended consequences against American interests, which led to the United States entering into its own war in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks in 2001, only to end with the US' withdrawal in 2021 and the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan.
Sports and "Unified Team"
The breakup of the Soviet Union saw a massive impact in the sporting world. Before its dissolution, the Soviet football team had just qualified for Euro 1992, but its place was instead taken by the CIS national football team. After the tournament, the former Soviet Republics competed as separate independent nations, with FIFA allocating the Soviet team's record to Russia.[203]
Before the start of the
Members of the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona consisted of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. At those Summer Games, the Unified Team secured 45 gold medals, 38 silver medals, and 29 bronze medals; four medals more than second-place United States, and 30 more than third-place Germany. In addition to great team success, the Unified Team also saw great personal success. Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus secured six gold medals for the team in gymnastics and also became the most decorated athlete of the Summer Games.[204] Gymnastics, athletics, wrestling, and swimming were the strongest sports for the team, as the four combined earned 28 gold medals and 64 medals in total.
Only six of the countries competed earlier at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The Unified team placed second, three fewer medals than Germany. However, much like the Summer Games, the Unified team had the most decorated medalist in the Winter Games as well, with Lyubov Yegorova of Russia, a cross-country skier winning five total medals.[205]
Telecommunications
The Soviet Union's calling code of +7 is still used by Russia and Kazakhstan. Between 1993 and 1997, many newly independent republics implemented their own numbering plans such as Belarus (+375) and Ukraine (+380).[citation needed] The Internet domain .su remains in use alongside the internet domains of the newly created countries.
Glasnost and "Memorial"
The lifting of total censorship and communist propaganda led to disclosure to public of such political and historical issues as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Katyn massacre, revision of the Stalinist repressions, revision of the Russian Civil War, the White movement, the New Economic Policy, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, censorship, pacification and procrastination by the Soviet authorities.
In 1989, the Soviet Union established a civil rights society, Memorial, which specialized in research and recovery of memory for victims of political repressions as well as support for a general human rights movement.
Chronology of declarations
States with limited recognition are shown in italics.
Subdivision | Sovereignty proclaimed | Renamed | Independence proclaimed | Secession recognized |
---|---|---|---|---|
Estonian SSR | 16 November 1988 | since 8 May 1990: Republic of Estonia |
20 August 1991 | 6 September 1991 |
Lithuanian SSR | 26 May 1989 | since 11 March 1990: Republic of Lithuania |
11 March 1990 | |
Latvian SSR | 28 July 1989 | since 4 May 1990: Republic of Latvia |
21 August 1991 | |
Azerbaijan SSR | 23 September 1989 | since 5 February 1991: Republic of Azerbaijan |
18 October 1991 | 26 December 1991
|
Nakhichevan ASSR | 23 September 1989[b] | since 17 November 1990: Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic |
19 January 1990 | Peacefully reincorporated into Azerbaijan under Heydar Aliyev in 1993 |
Gagauz ASSR | 12 November 1989 | since 19 August 1990: Gagauz Republic |
26 December 1991[c] | Peacefully reincorporated into Moldova with an autonomous status on 14 January 1995 |
Georgian SSR | 26 May 1990 | since 14 November 1990: Republic of Georgia |
9 April 1991 | 26 December 1991 |
Russian SFSR | 12 June 1990 | since 25 December 1991: Russian Federation |
12 December 1991 | |
Uzbek SSR | 20 June 1990 | since 31 August 1991: Republic of Uzbekistan |
1 September 1991 | |
Moldavian SSR[d] | 23 June 1990 | since 23 May 1991: Republic of Moldova |
27 August 1991 | |
Ukrainian SSR | 16 July 1990 | since 24 August 1991: Ukraine |
24 August 1991 | |
Byelorussian SSR | 27 July 1990
|
since 19 September 1991: Republic of Belarus |
25 August 1991 | |
Turkmen SSR | 22 August 1990 | since 27 October 1991: Turkmenistan |
27 October 1991 | |
Armenian SSR | 23 August 1990 | since 23 August 1990: Republic of Armenia |
21 September 1991 | |
Tajik SSR | 24 August 1990 | since 31 August 1991: Republic of Tajikistan |
9 September 1991 | |
Abkhaz ASSR | 25 August 1990 | since 23 July 1992: Republic of Abkhazia |
23 July 1992[e] | Limited recognition since 2008 |
Tatar ASSR | 30 August 1990 | since 7 February 1992: Republic of Tatarstan |
21 March 1992[f] | Peacefully reincorporated into Russia with autonomy on 15 February 1994 |
Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR | 2 September 1990 | since 5 November 1991: Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic |
25 August 1991 | Not recognized |
Kazakh SSR | 25 October 1990 | since 10 December 1991: Republic of Kazakhstan |
16 December 1991 | 26 December 1991
|
Checheno-Ingush ASSR
|
27 November 1990 | since 8 June 1991: Chechen Republic[g] |
1 November 1991 | Disestablished in 1999–2000 during the Second Chechen War |
South Ossetian AO[h] | 20 September 1990[i] | since 18 November 1991: Republic of South Ossetia |
21 December 1991 | Limited recognition since 2008 |
Karakalpak ASSR | 14 December 1990 | since 9 January 1992: Republic of Karakalpakstan |
9 January 1992[j] | Peacefully reincorporated into Uzbekistan with autonomy on 9 January 1993 |
Kirghiz SSR | 15 December 1990 | since 5 February 1991: Republic of Kyrgyzstan |
31 August 1991 | 26 December 1991
|
Crimean ASSR | 12 February 1991 | since 26 February 1992: Republic of Crimea[k] |
5 May 1992[l] (first attempt) 11 March 2014[m] (second attempt) |
Peacefully rejoined Ukraine on 6 May 1992, gaining autonomy in 1998; Incorporated into Russia in March 2014, following a referendum with limited recognition |
Nagorno-Karabakh AO | 2 September 1991 | since 2 September 1991: Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh |
10 December 1991 | Reincorporated into Azerbaijan in 2023 after a decades-long ethnic conflict with Armenians |
Legacy
In 2013, the American
In a similar poll held in February 2005, 50% of respondents in Ukraine stated they regretted the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
The breakdown of economic ties that followed the Soviet collapse led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in the
In the
United Nations membership
In a letter dated 24 December 1991, Boris Yeltsin, the
However, the
All of the twelve other independent states that were established from the former Soviet republics were admitted to the UN:
- 17 September 1991: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
- 2 March 1992: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
- 31 July 1992: Georgia
Historiographic explanations
Historiography on the Soviet collapse can be roughly classified in two groups:
The end of the Soviet Union caught many people by surprise. Before 1991, many
Intentionalist accounts contend that Soviet collapse was not Inevitable and resulted from the policies and decisions of specific individuals, usually Gorbachev and Yeltsin. One characteristic example of intentionalist writing is the historian Archie Brown's The Gorbachev Factor, which argues Gorbachev was the main force in Soviet politics at least from 1985 to 1988 and even later and that he largely spearheaded the political reforms and developments, as opposed to being led by events.[218] That was especially true of the policies of perestroika and glasnost, market initiatives, and foreign policy stance, as the political scientist George Breslauer has seconded by labelling Gorbachev a "man of the events".[219] In a slightly different vein, David Kotz and Fred Weir have contended that Soviet elites were responsible for spurring on both nationalism and capitalism from which they could personally benefit, which is demonstrated also by their continued presence in the higher economic and political echelons of post-Soviet republics.[220]
In contrast, structuralist accounts take a more deterministic view in which Soviet dissolution was an outcome of deeply rooted structural issues, which planted a time bomb. For example, Edward Walker has argued that minority nationalities were denied power at the Union level, confronted by a culturally destabilizing form of economic
An opinion piece by Gorbachev in April 2006 stated: "The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union."[223][224]
It also had a profound impact on the policy-making circles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in particular on CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, who states:
Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fall from power? An important reason was that the struggle in the field of ideology was extremely intense, completely negating the history of the Soviet Union, negating the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, negating Lenin, negating Stalin, creating historical nihilism and confused thinking. Party organs at all levels had lost their functions, the military was no longer under Party leadership. In the end, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a great party, was scattered, the Soviet Union, a great socialist country, disintegrated. This is a cautionary tale![225]
See also
- 1980s oil glut
- American decline
- Breakup of Yugoslavia
- Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
- Dissolution of the Russian Empire
- German reunification
- History of the Soviet Union (1982–91)
- History of Russia (1991–present)
- Predictions of Soviet collapse
- Post-Soviet studies
- Russian money in London
- Separatism in Russia
- Strong dollar policy
- Superpower collapse
- Yemeni reunification
- Fall of Socialism in Ethiopia
- The Commanding Heights (book)
Notes
- ^ Russian: Распа́д Сове́тского Сою́за, tr. Raspád Sovétskogo Soyúza, also negatively connoted as Russian: Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, tr. Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, Ruining of the Soviet Union.
- ^ As part of the Azerbaijan SSR.
- ^ Only declared secession from the Moldavian SSR as a separate republic of the Soviet Union; remained a de facto independent state following the final Soviet collapse until reintegration.
- ^ Renamed SSR of Moldova in its Declaration of Sovereignty.
- ^ Seceded from Georgia.
- ^ Seceded from Russia.
- Akhmat Kadyrov.
- ^ Full name is "South Ossetian Soviet Republic" since 28 November 1990; initially it was called "South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic".
- ^ Previously called for an autonomy status inside the Georgian SSR as the South Ossetian ASSR since 10 November 1989.
- ^ Seceded from Uzbekistan.
- ^ Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1998–2014.
- ^ Proclaimed self-governance.
- ^ Seceded Ukraine.
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Further reading
- Aron, Leon (2000). Boris Yeltsin: A Revolutionary Life. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-653041-9.
- Aron, Leon Rabinovich (25 April 2006). "The 'Mystery' of the Soviet Collapse" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 17 (2): 21–35. S2CID 144642549. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- Beissinger, Mark R. (2009). "Nationalism and the Collapse of Soviet Communism". Contemporary European History. 18 (3): 331–347. S2CID 46642309.
- Boughton, J. M. (1999). "After the Fall: Building Nations Out of the Soviet Union" (PDF). Tearing Down Walls: The International Monetary Fund 1990. International Monetary Fund. pp. 349–408. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-19288-052-9.
- from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- Crawshaw, Steve (1992). Goodbye to the USSR: The Collapse of Soviet Power. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-1561-1
- Dallin, Alexander (October 1992). "Causes of the Collapse of the USSR". Post-Soviet Affairs. 8 (4): 279–302. ISSN 1060-586X.
- Dawisha, Karen & Parrott, Bruce (editors) (1997). Conflict, cleavage, and change in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59731-5.
- ISBN 0-8147-1945-7
- Dobbs, Michael (1998). Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-307-77316-6.
- Efremenko, Dmitry (2019). Perestroika and the 'Dashing Nineties': At the Crossroads of History // Russian Geostrategic Imperatives: Collection of essays Archived 12 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine / Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences. Moscow. pp. 112–126.
- ISBN 0-385-40668-1.
- Gvosdev, Nikolas K., ed. (2008). The Strange Death of Soviet Communism: A Post-Script. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-41280-698-5
- Kotkin, Stephen (2008). Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 (2nd ed.) excerpt Archived 31 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- Kotz, David, and Fred Weir (2006). "The Collapse of the Soviet Union was a Revolution from Above". In The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, edited by Laurie Stoff, 155–164. Thomson Gale.
- Martinez, Carlo (2020). The End of the Beginning: Lessons of the Soviet collapse. ISBN 978-9380118789.
- Mayer, Tom (1 March 2002). "The Collapse of Soviet Communism: A Class Dynamics Interpretation". Social Forces. 80 (3): 759–811. from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- Miller, Chris (13 October 2016). The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-3018-2.
- ISBN 978-1-84827-112-8
- ISBN 978-1-78074-646-3.
- Segrillo, Angelo (December 2016). "The Decline of the Soviet Union: A Hypothesis on Industrial Paradigms, Technological Revolutions and the Roots of Perestroika" (PDF). LEA Working Paper Series (2): 1–25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- Strayer, Robert (1998). Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? Understanding Historical Change. M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-76560-004-2.
- Suny, Ronald (1993). Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-80472-247-6.
- Walker, Edward W. (2003). Dissolution: Sovereignty and the Breakup of the Soviet Union. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-74252-453-8.
- ISBN 978-0-300-25730-4.
External links
- Photographs of the fall of the USSR by photojournalist Alain-Pierre Hovasse, a first-hand witness of these events.
- Guide to the James Hershberg poster collection Archived 10 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Special Collections Research Center, The Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. This collection contains posters documenting the changing social and political culture in the former Soviet Union and Europe (particularly Eastern Europe) during the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union. A significant portion of the posters in this collection were used in a 1999 exhibit at Gelman Library titled "Goodbye Comrade: An Exhibition of Images from the Revolution of '89 and the Collapse of Communism".
- Lowering of the Soviet flag on December 25, 1991
- 23 августа – 24 ноября 1991. Последний этап борьбы за обновленный Союз. "Разбегание" республик и раздел имущества СССР
- 1–25 декабря 1991. Развал СССР. Беловежские соглашения и отставка Президента СССР
- U.S. Response to the End of the USSR from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
- Miller, Chris (5 March 2017). "The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy". C-Span.
- «С ядерной кнопкой все будет в порядке». Кто поставил жирную точку в истории СССР