The Collapse of the Soviet Union: End of an Empire

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''The Cold War is over. There is no more danger of nuclear catastrophe. The horizons of peace have been widened.''

–Mikhail S. Gorbachev

Table of Contents

Overview

Introduction

The Empire Crumbles

Mikhail Gorbachev

The Thaw Begins

Glasnost

Congress of People’s Deputies

Democratic Explosion

CPSU Gives Up Monopoly

Boris Yeltsin

August 1991 Coup

Independence

The Fall - December 1991

Cold War Legacy

Credits

Overview

The Soviet Union rose to power in 1922 and governed with an iron fist under Joseph Stalin's repressive regime. It consolidated its role as a world powerhouse over nearly 70 years, influencing not only its own citizens but the global political landscape from Cuba to Africa, the U.S. and beyond.

In 1991, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, resigned his presidency and relinquished control to Boris Yeltsin and a newly established Russian commonwealth.

This momentous event marked the official end of the Cold War, and The Associated Press was there to witness and document this historical transformation.

Many of the articles that appear in this book provide a unique look at the Soviet story through the eyes of AP's reporters and photographer

Introduction

The Empire Crumbles

Gorbachev Resigns, Says Has 'Confidence'

In Commonwealth's Leaders

December 25, 1991

By Alan Cooperman

The Soviet flag flies over the Kremlin at Red Square in Moscow, Russia. The flag is scheduled to be replaced by the Russian flag on New Year's, December 21, 1991. (AP Photo/Gene Berman)

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, resigned tonight (December 25, 1991) as president of the now-dissolved Communist empire and turned power over to the new commonwealth that replaced it.

Speaking on national television before the red flag of his defunct union, Gorbachev said: ''I cease my activities as president of the U.S.S.R.'' With that, he ended nearly seven years in power that saw the most sweeping changes in the history of the Soviet Union.

After the speech, the red flag over the Kremlin came down and the white- red-and-blue Russian flag was raised. Gorbachev signed a decree that made Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin the commander of the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

Yeltsin had already said he would assume control of the nuclear weapons immediately after Gorbachev's speech, without ''a single second'' of delay.

In his resignation speech, Gorbachev expressed pride in the era he defined. ''Society acquired freedom, liberated itself politically and spiritually, and this is the foremost achievement,'' he said.

But he conceded: ''Some things could have been done better.''

Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, signs the decree relinquishing control of nuclear weapons to Boris Yeltsin at the Kremlin in Moscow. Gorbachev, whose reforms gave Soviet citizens freedom, ended the Cold War and ultimately led to the destruction of his nation, December 25, 1991. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing)

When he took over in March 1985, Gorbachev said, ''This country was going nowhere ... We had to change things radically.'' Change them he did, and ultimately the political; social and economic reforms he unleashed led to his own demise.

Gorbachev was unable in the end to halt the disintegration of the union. When he tried to reshape the 15 Soviet republics into a new, looser union, hard-liners in the Kremlin sought to oust him in August 1991.

The coup failed and discredited the Communist Party, his source of authority. Power then shifted to Yeltsin and the other republics, most of which declared independence.

In Washington, the White House said today that President Bush would return early from the presidential retreat at Camp David to make a nationally televised address on the transformation of the Soviet Union to a commonwealth made up of 11 of the former republics.

Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Gorbachev telephoned Bush earlier today for a farewell talk, and that Bush praised the Soviet leader's courage and vision. Gorbachev told Bush he would ''continue to serve the cause of international peace,'' Fitzwater said.

The Musichick family watches Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s resignation speech on Soviet television in their downtown Moscow apartment, December 25, 1991. (AP Photo/Sergei Kharpukhin)

Yeltsin, to whom the mantle of leadership is effectively passing, said of Gorbachev: ''I have a lot of respect for him personally.'' ''Today, I don't want to focus on the mistakes,'' Yeltsin told Cable News Network hours before Gorbachev's resignation speech.

Gorbachev offered only a reluctant endorsement of the new commonwealth, whose formation was spearheaded by Yeltsin. In a CNN interview immediately after his speech, he said: ''Today is a dangerous time.''

He urged cooperation within the commonwealth. ''I am leaving my post with great concern, but also confidence'' in the new leaders of the commonwealth, he said in the speech.

Gorbachev did not mention Yeltsin by name, but thanked those ''who stood by me in good will,'' saying: ''Sooner or later our common efforts will bear fruit.'' Concluding his 14-minute speech, he said: ''I wish all the best to all of you.''

A Yeltsin spokesman said Tuesday that Gorbachev had already given the Russian president the instructions and codes needed to launch the former Soviet Union's 27,000 nuclear weapons in Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan.

Earlier today, Yeltsin told his parliament that ''there will be only a single nuclear button, and other presidents will not possess it.

''But to push it requires the approval of the four participants in the agreement between the nuclear republics ... Of course, we think this button must never be used,'' he said.

On Thursday (December 26) the United States is expected to recognize Yeltsin's Russian Federation and several other former republics, according to U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some other nations have already recognized the Russian Federation, with the latest announcement coming from Italy, and Russia has moved to take over the permanent Soviet seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Meanwhile, evidence of the decentralization of military power in the new commonwealth came today in an announcement by Yeltsin. The Russian president said his government was removing former Soviet troops from two hot spots in the Caucasus: the disputed Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan, and Georgia, the scene of a bloody power struggle.

In the Georgian capital, Tblisi, today (December 25), new gun battles between government forces and rebel troops broke out after the opposition's deadline passed for President Zviad Gamsakhurdia to resign.

Rebel members of the Georgian National Guard appeared to have pulled back slightly but were still pounding the mammoth Georgian parliament building, where Gamsakhurdia and about 1,000 loyal troops were holed up.

Yeltsin disclosed that Georgia had wanted to join the commonwealth, but that leaders of the 11 other republics had turned it down. ''The heads of states considered that Georgia, until its (internal) problems have been solved, cannot be accepted in the commonwealth,'' he told his parliament.

Yeltsin said the new commonwealth faces many hurdles, but said things would have been even harder under the old system.''Before us lies a difficult year,'' he said. ''Without the commonwealth it would be much harder.''

Yeltsin and Gorbachev had a final meeting Tuesday to discuss the transfer of power and issues involving the ''material well-being'' of Gorbachev and his family and staff, said Yeltsin spokesman Pavel Voshchanov.

Republic leaders agreed last week to pay Gorbachev a monthly pension of 4,000 rubles and give him a 20-man guard service, two limousines, an apartment and a country home, news reports said.

Although 4,000 rubles is only about $40 at the government-regulated exchange rate, it is many times more than average monthly Soviet wage of about 350 rubles.

Chronology of U.S.S.R. Since 1917

1917

Revolution begins in February. Czar Nicholas II abdicates in March. Bolsheviks take control in October.

1918

Lenin establishes Soviet Republic of Russia and moves capital to Moscow from Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Nicholas and family executed.

1919

Ukrainian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics are established. Komintern, the Communist International, is created.

1920

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan proclaimed Soviet Socialist Republics.

1921

10th Communist Party Congress creates one-party system. Georgia is forcibly absorbed into the Soviet Union.

1922

Joseph Stalin elected general-secretary of Communist Party's central committee.

1924

Lenin dies. Troika comprised of Stalin, and two others takes over, but Stalin manages to outmaneuver the others. The Uzbek, Turkmen and Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republics are formed.

1927

Stalin orders collectivization of farmlands.

1929

The Tadzhik republic admitted to the Soviet Union.

1936

Stalin begins bloody purges to consolidate his power. Kirghizia admitted to Soviet Union as constituent republic.

1939

Soviets invade Finland. Nazi Germany and Soviet Union sign non-aggression pact.

1940

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are annexed to Soviet Union as a result of a Soviet-German agreement.

1941

Germany invades Soviet Union. Soviets switch to Allied side. An estimated 27 million Soviets die in war.

1945

World War II ends. Soviets assert control over Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany.

1949

Soviet Union is first foreign nation to recognize People's Republic of China led by Mao Tse-tung.

1953

Stalin dies. Nikita Khrushchev comes to power.

1956

Khrushchev denounces Stalin; Chinese Communists accuse Soviets of revisionism. Soviet tanks end uprising in Hungary.

1960

Kremlin withdraws all 1,300 Soviet technicians assigned to China, heralding a split.

1962

Khrushchev backs away from brink of war with the United States over arming Cuba with Soviet missiles.

1964

Khrushchev is deposed and replace by Leonid I. Brezhnev.

1968

Soviets crush ''Prague Spring'' uprising in Czechoslovakia.

1979

Soviets invade Afghanistan to prop up Marxist government.

1982

Brezhnev dies, replaced by Yuri Andropov, former head of the KGB.

1984

Andropov dies, replaced by Konstantin Chernenko.

1985

Chernenko dies, Mikhail S. Gorbachev is elected general-secretary of Communist Party, which adopts his platform of ''perestroika,'' or restructuring of the Soviet system.

1989

Communist governments in Eastern Europe fall after Gorbachev says he won't use force to save them. Soviet troops complete pullout from Afghanistan.

1990

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declare independence. Boris Yeltsin is elected president of Russian Republic, which declares sovereignty. By year's end, all 15 Soviet republics declare some form of sovereignty and Gorbachev proposes a Union Treaty to retain a form of central control. Yeltsin and other radicals quit party. Gorbachev purges several hardline members from Politburo.

1991

Jan. 13 - Fourteen people are killed when Soviet tanks attack the main television tower in Vilnius, Lithuania.

March 17 - Union Treaty is approved in nationwide referendum.

April 2 - Consumer goods prices increase, some by as much as 1,000 percent.

June 27 - Ukraine lawmakers reject Union Treaty.

July 26 - Communist leaders overwhelmingly approve Gorbachev's new party platform, abandoning decades of Marxist dogma.

Aug. 18 - One day before Gorbachev plans to sign Union Treaty, hardline Communist group tries to overthrow him.

Aug. 21 - Coup fails, Gorbachev returns to Moscow.

Aug. 22 - Lithuania outlaws Communist Party.

Aug. 24 - Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party and urges it be disbanded; Ukraine becomes seventh of 15 Soviet republics to declare itself independent.

Aug. 27 - Gorbachev appeals to 15 Soviet republics to preserve military and economic union; European Community recognizes independence of Baltic republics.

Aug. 29 - Soviet lawmakers suspend Communist Party activities nationwide and freeze its bank accounts because of party's role in failed coup attempt; Russia and Ukraine bypass Kremlin to form military and economic alliance.

Aug. 30 - Azerbaijan declares independence and begins forming own army.

Aug. 31 - Uzbekistan and Kirgizia become ninth and 10th republics to declare independence.

Sept. 2 - Congress of People's Deputies approves plan to reduce Kremlin authority in the Soviet Union but retain a loose federation of states; United States formally recognizes Baltic republics.

Sept. 5 - Soviet lawmakers approve creation of interim government to usher in new confederation of sovereign states.

Sept. 6 - Soviet Union recognizes independence of Baltic States.

Sept. 12 - Officials of Baltic states and 12 Soviet republics agree to maintain collective defense framework and single control over Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal.

Sept. 21 - Armenia votes in favor of independence from Soviet government.

Oct. 1 - Twelve Soviet republics agree to new economic union to coordinate everything from communications to defense.

Oct. 18 - Gorbachev and presidents of eight Soviet republics sign treaty to create