Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> was formally dissolved as a <a href="/facts/Sovereign_state/TrUb8sns">sovereign state</a> and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the <a href="/facts/Soviet_of_Nationalities/YB2mhRr8">Soviet of the Republics</a> of the <a href="/facts/Supreme_Soviet_of_the_Soviet_Union/bSTuBKwh">Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union</a>. It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government and <a href="/facts/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union/jJD3malu">General Secretary</a> (also <a href="/facts/President_of_the_Soviet_Union/c3oK4wqu">President</a>) <a href="/facts/Mikhail_Gorbachev/tKxQRaeP">Mikhail Gorbachev</a>'s effort to <a href="/facts/Perestroika/KvdmEalx">reform the Soviet political and economic system</a> in an attempt to stop a <a href="/facts/Era_of_Stagnation/VFe6GRFD">period of political stalemate and economic backslide</a>. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and Gorbachev continuing the waning of centralized power, the leaders of <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Creation_of_the_Soviet_Union/PjslLQtf">three of its founding members</a>, the Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian SSRs, declared that the <a href="/facts/Belovezh_Accords/GAkuHVLB">Soviet Union no longer existed</a>. Eight more republics <a href="/facts/Alma-Ata_Protocol/jVKj2rx9">joined their declaration</a> shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991 and what was left of the <a href="/facts/Supreme_Soviet_of_the_Soviet_Union/bSTuBKwh">Soviet parliament</a> voted to dissolve the union the following day.
The process began with growing unrest in the country's various constituent national republics developing into an <a href="/facts/Parade_of_sovereignties/3IF9y9Q7">incessant political and legislative conflict</a> between them and the central government. <a href="/facts/Estonia_SSR/b1mDzA7F">Estonia</a> was the first Soviet republic to <a href="/facts/Estonian_Sovereignty_Declaration/jpnrpE4D">declare state sovereignty</a> inside the Union on 16 November 1988. <a href="/facts/Lithuanian_SSR/nD4lm1Ue">Lithuania</a> was the first republic to declare full independence restored from the Soviet Union by the <a href="/facts/Act_of_the_Re-Establishment_of_the_State_of_Lithuania/etPkJG1p">Act of 11 March 1990</a> with its <a href="/facts/Baltic_states/s48uxWb6">Baltic</a> neighbors and the <a href="/facts/Southern_Caucasus/MQaTkhRJ">Southern Caucasus</a> republic of <a href="/facts/Georgia_(country)/ccBF8bBE">Georgia</a> joining it over the next two months.
During the failed <a href="/facts/1991_August_Coup/IvXGvLdu">1991 August coup</a>, communist hardliners and military elites attempted to overthrow Gorbachev and stop the failing reforms. However, the turmoil led to the central government in Moscow losing influence, ultimately resulting in many republics proclaiming independence in the following days and months. The secession of the Baltic states was recognized in September 1991. The <a href="/facts/Belovezh_Accords/GAkuHVLB">Belovezha Accords</a> were signed on 8 December by <a href="/facts/President_of_Russia/B51rFJbT">President</a> <a href="/facts/Boris_Yeltsin/I8Ktypjs">Boris Yeltsin</a> of <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a>, <a href="/facts/President_of_Ukraine/dU38ajLg">President</a> <a href="/facts/Leonid_Kravchuk/cCFeR4yg">Kravchuk</a> of <a href="/facts/Ukraine/Qof0uqAj">Ukraine</a>, and <a href="/facts/Supreme_Council_of_Belarus/w6p7zQYn">Chairman</a> <a href="/facts/Stanislav_Shushkevich/JplEhQNJ">Shushkevich</a> of <a href="/facts/Belarus/vweHwgob">Belarus</a>, recognizing each other's independence and creating the <a href="/facts/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States/DqccXsyS">Commonwealth of Independent States</a> (CIS) to replace the Soviet Union. <a href="/facts/Kazakhstan/Vfs8NI6e">Kazakhstan</a> was the last republic to leave the Union, proclaiming independence on 16 December. All the ex-Soviet republics, with the exception of Georgia and the Baltic states, joined the CIS on 21 December, signing the <a href="/facts/Alma-Ata_Protocol/jVKj2rx9">Alma-Ata Protocol</a>. Russia, as by far the largest and most populous republic, became the Soviet Union's de facto <a href="/facts/Succession_of_states/WSEEnrmp">successor state</a>. On 25 December, Gorbachev resigned and turned over his presidential powers – including control of the <a href="/facts/Cheget/0k9azgNv">nuclear launch codes</a> – to Yeltsin, who was now the first president of the <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russian Federation</a>. That evening, the <a href="/facts/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union/RqzVQLYo">Soviet flag</a> was lowered from the <a href="/facts/Moscow_Kremlin/yvbofbcu">Kremlin</a> for the last time and replaced with the <a href="/facts/Flag_of_Russia/JqXDorPL">Russian tricolor flag</a>. The following day, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union's upper chamber, the Soviet of the Republics, <a href="/facts/Dissolution_(politics)/V46vxa6y">formally dissolved</a> the Union. The events of the dissolution resulted in its 15 constituent republics gaining full <a href="/facts/Independence/5FLmL8qT">independence</a> which also marked the major conclusion of the <a href="/facts/Revolutions_of_1989/gLWM6JLk">Revolutions of 1989</a> and the end of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>.
In the <a href="/facts/Post%25E2%2580%2593Cold_War_era/5B3vry3Q">aftermath of the Cold War</a>, several of the <a href="/facts/Post-Soviet_states/usrFwWTU">former Soviet republics</a> have retained close links with Russia and formed <a href="/facts/Multilateralism/nSgHsg8m">multilateral</a> organizations such as the CIS, the <a href="/facts/Collective_Security_Treaty_Organization/tcGnX2xT">Collective Security Treaty Organization</a> (CSTO), the <a href="/facts/Eurasian_Economic_Union/STKuhLsw">Eurasian Economic Union</a> (EAEU), and the <a href="/facts/Union_State/uQukYAbs">Union State</a>, for economic and military cooperation. On the other hand, the Baltic states and all of the other former <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact/SLEsUSAS">Warsaw Pact</a> states became part of the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a> (EU) and joined <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a>, while some of the other former Soviet republics like Ukraine, Georgia and <a href="/facts/Moldova/qGBNGewt">Moldova</a> have been publicly expressing interest in following the same path since the 1990s, despite Russian attempts to persuade them otherwise.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union open-in-new

Dissolution of the Soviet Union