CHAPTER 14 USSR TIMELINE: THE DEMISE OF THE UNION

The Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR) was created by Vladimir Lenin in 1922.

It became the largest country in the world.

But after December 25, 1991 the red flag with the hammer and sickle no longer flew on the highest flagpole in the Kremlin in Moscow.

After its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union left in its place 15 independent states.

Others opted for complete independence and by the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the independent states were Armenia, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The official dissolution of the Soviet Union came on December 26, 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was a result of the declaration number 142-H of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. On 25 December, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the USSR, resigned, declared his office extinct and handed over its powers — including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes — to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7.32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.

The road to dissolution of the Soviet Union had its origins in 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11, three hours after predecessor Konstantin Chernenko’s death at age 73.

On July 1, 1985, Gorbachev promoted Eduard Shevardnadze, First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, to full member of the Politburo, and the following day appointed him minister of foreign affairs, replacing long-time Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.

On December 23, 1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin.

On August 23, 1987, the first anti-Soviet protests in Lithuania took place on the 48th anniversary of the secret protocols of the 1939 Molotov Pact (between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin that ultimately turned the then-independent Baltic states over to the Soviet Union) when thousands of demonstrators in the three Baltic capitals sang independence songs and attended speeches commemorating Stalin’s victims. The gatherings were sharply denounced in the official press and closely watched by the police but were not interrupted.

The moves that led to the Soviet Union’s demise and independence for the republics continued.

On October 17, 1987, about 3,000 Armenians demonstrated in Yerevan complaining about the condition of Lake Sevan, the Nairit chemicals plant, and the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, and air pollution in Yerevan.

On October 21, a demonstration dedicated to those who gave their lives in the 1918–1920 Estonian War of Independence was held in in Võru, which culminated in a conflict with the militia. For the first time in years, the blue, black, and white national tricolor was publicly displayed.

On November 18, 1987, hundreds of police and civilian militiamen cordoned off the central square to prevent any demonstration at Freedom Monument, but thousands lined the streets of Riga in silent protest regardless.

On February 20, 1988, after a week of growing demonstrations in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (the Armenian majority area within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic), the Regional Soviet voted to secede and join with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia.

The Estonian Popular Front was founded in April 1988.

On April 26, 1988, about 500 people took part in a march organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Club on Kiev’s Khreschatyk Street to mark the second anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, carrying placards with slogans like “Openness and Democracy to the End.”

The Popular Front of Lithuania, called Sąjūdis (“Movement”), was founded in May 1988.

In Tbilisi, capital of Soviet Georgia, many demonstrators camped out in front of the republic’s legislature in November 1988 calling for Georgia’s independence and in support of Estonia’s declaration of sovereignty.

On November 16, 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.

In Ukraine, Lviv and Kyiv celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day on January 22, 1989. Thousands gathered in Lviv for an unauthorized moleben (religious service) in front of St. George’s Cathedral. In Kyiv, 60 activists met in an apartment to commemorate the proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918.

On April 7, 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

On April 9, 1989, troops attacked the demonstrators and 20 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. This radicalized Georgian politics, prompting many to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule.

On May 30, 1989, Gorbachev proposed that nationwide local elections, scheduled for November 1989, be postponed until early 1990 because there were still no laws governing the conduct of such elections.

In Kazakhstan on June 19, 1989, young men carrying guns, firebombs, iron bars and stones rioted in Zhanaozen, causing a number of deaths.

On June 23, 1989, Gorbachev removed Rafiq Nishonov as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR and replaced him with Karimov, who went on to lead Uzbekistan as a Soviet Republic and subsequently as an independent state.

On August 19, 600,000 protesters jammed Baku’s Lenin Square (now Azadliq Square) to demand the release of political prisoners.

The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration on August 23, 1989. An estimated two million people joined hands to form a human chain extending 600 km (370 mi) across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

On October 28, 1989, the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet decreed that effective January 1, 1990, Ukrainian would be the official language of Ukraine, while Russian would be used for communication between ethnic groups.

On December 7, 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.

On December 10, 1989, the first officially sanctioned observance of International Human Rights Day was held in Lviv, Ukraine.

On December 26, the Supreme Soviet of Ukrainian SSR adopted a law designating Christmas, Easter, and the Feast of the Holy Trinity official holidays.

On February 7, 1990, the Central Committee of the CPSU accepted Gorbachev’s recommendation that the party give up its monopoly on political power.

Gorbachev’s decision to loosen the Soviet yoke on the countries of Eastern Europe created an independent, democratic movement that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and then the overthrow of Communist rule throughout Eastern Europe.

Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After the May 1990 elections, Gorbachev faced conflicting internal political pressures: Boris Yeltsin and the pluralist movement advocated democratization and rapid economic reforms while the hard-line Communist elite wanted to thwart Gorbachev’s reform agenda.

Gorbachev’s domestic problems continued to build. More challenges to Moscow’s control placed pressure on Gorbachev and the Communist party to retain power and keep the Soviet Union intact.

After the demise of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Caucasus demanded independence from Moscow. In January 1991, violence erupted in Lithuania and Latvia. Soviet tanks intervened to halt the uprisings.

On March 17, 1991, in a Union-wide referendum 76.4 % of voters endorsed retention of a reformed Soviet Union.

An unsuccessful August 1991 coup against Gorbachev sealed the fate of the Soviet Union. Planned by hard-line Communists, the coup diminished Gorbachev’s power and moved Yeltsin and the democratic forces to the forefront of Soviet and Russian politics.

On June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin won 57 % of the popular vote in the democratic elections, defeating Gorbachev’s preferred candidate, Nikolai Ryzhkov, who won 16%. Following Yeltsin’s election as president, Russia declared itself independent.

Gorbachev tried to restructure the Soviet Union into a less centralized state. A new Union Treaty was drawn to convert the Soviet Union into a federation of independent republics with a common president, foreign policy and military.

On August 19, 1991, Gorbachev’s vice president, Gennady Yanayev, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov and other senior officials acted to prevent the union treaty from being signed by forming the “General Committee on the State Emergency”, which put Gorbachev — on holiday in Foros, Crimea — under house arrest and cut off his communications.

On August 24, 1991, Gorbachev dissolved the Central Committee of the CPSU, resigned as the party’s general secretary, and dissolved all party units in the government.

On September 17, 1991, the United Nations General Assembly admitted Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the UN.

By November 7, 1991, the media referred to the “former Soviet Union”.

The final round of the Soviet Union’s collapse began with a Ukrainian popular referendum on December 1, 1991, in which 90% of voters opted for independence.

On December 8, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus secretly met in Belavezhskaya Pushcha, in western Belarus, and signed the Belavezha Accords, which proclaimed the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and announced formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a less structured association to take its place.

On December 12, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR formally ratified the Belavezha Accords and renounced the 1922 Union Treaty.

On December 17, 1991, along with 28 European countries, the European Economic Community, and four non-European countries, the three Baltic Republics and nine of the twelve remaining Soviet republics signed the European Energy Charter in the Hague as sovereign states.

Doubts remained over whether the Belavezha Accords had legally dissolved the Soviet Union, since they were signed by only three republics. On December 21, 1991, representatives of 11 of the 12 remaining republics — except Georgia — signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the dissolution of the Union and formally established the CIS.

They also “accepted” Gorbachev’s resignation. While Gorbachev hadn’t made any formal plans to leave the scene, he had indicated he would resign as soon as he saw that the CIS was a reality.

In a nationally televised speech early in the morning of December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR.

On the night of December 25 at 7.32 p.m. Moscow time, after Gorbachev left the Kremlin, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place, symbolically marking the end of the Soviet Union.

On December 26, the Council of the Republics, the upper chamber of the Union’s Supreme Soviet, voted both itself and the Soviet Union out of existence.

Sources: History.com, BBC, Britannica, CBS.