Soviet Union Collapse Timeline: Key Events of 1991

The Soviet of the Republics acknowledges the end of the USSR Kremlin and centre

The Soviet of the Republics, the upper chamber of the Soviet parliament, adopted Declaration No. 142-N on 26 December 1991, recognising the independence of the former republics and acknowledging that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist (Wikipedia). Russia had recalled its deputies on 12 December, and most accounts say the other chamber, the Soviet of the Union, could no longer muster a quorum. Most accounts count this as the formal legal conclusion, the day after Gorbachev’s resignation.

Two dates, two roles. The resignation (25 December) ended the presidency; this vote (26 December) is the institutional acknowledgement. AiTimeline could not retrieve the verbatim Russian text of the declaration, so the wording here follows secondary summaries.

Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet flag comes down Kremlin and centre

Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation as president of the Soviet Union in a televised address on 25 December 1991, and transferred his powers, including control of the nuclear launch codes, to Boris Yeltsin (Wikipedia). That evening the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time (US Department of State).

Less than two hours before his address, Gorbachev telephoned President George H. W. Bush at Camp David. It was the last conversation between the two leaders as heads of the superpowers (National Security Archive).

Eleven republics endorse the Alma-Ata agreements Republics

Leaders of 11 republics signed the Alma-Ata protocols on 21 December 1991: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Wikipedia). They confirmed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and set up the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on a wider basis than the original three. A separate treaty on nuclear weapons was signed by Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

Georgia did not take part and the three Baltic states, which regard their 1940 incorporation as illegal, stayed out. Georgia joined the CIS in 1993 and left in 2009.

Russia ratifies Belavezha and denounces the 1922 treaty Kremlin and centre

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and Belarus’s Supreme Council ratified the Belavezha agreement on 10 December. On 12 December Russia’s Supreme Soviet ratified it, denounced the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, and recalled Russia’s deputies from the Soviet parliament (Wikipedia). Some Russian lawmakers disputed the constitutional basis of the vote.

The Belavezha Accords declare the USSR over Republics

Boris Yeltsin and Gennady Burbulis (Russia), Leonid Kravchuk and Vitold Fokin (Ukraine), and Stanislav Shushkevich and Vyacheslav Kebich (Belarus) signed the accords at a state dacha near Viskuli in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha forest. The preamble states that the USSR, “as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality, is ceasing its existence,” and the text created the CIS (Wikipedia).

Within minutes Yeltsin telephoned Bush, saying that Gorbachev did not yet know the results (National Security Archive). Gorbachev objected that “the fate of the multinational state cannot be determined by the will of the leaders of three republics.”

Ukraine votes for independence Votes

Ukrainians voted on the 24 August independence act on 1 December 1991. The CSCE’s contemporary report says about 84% of eligible voters took part and over 90% of participants backed independence; Leonid Kravchuk won the presidency in the first round with about 60% (CSCE report). The official tally was 92.26% yes of valid votes, with 54.19% yes in Crimea and 83.90% in Donetsk oblast (Wikipedia).

Yeltsin bans the Communist Party in Russia Kremlin and centre

Yeltsin issued a decree on 6 November 1991 banning the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Russia (Wikipedia). Talks on a looser “Union of Sovereign States” continued through November without a settlement that Ukraine and Russia would both sign.

Eight republics sign an economic community agreement Kremlin and centre

Gorbachev and representatives of eight republics signed an agreement on a new economic community on 18 October 1991. Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and the three Baltic states did not take part (Wikipedia; AiTimeline did not find a second source for the list of non-signatories). Azerbaijan’s Supreme Soviet adopted its independence act the same day.

The State Council recognises Baltic independence Republics

The USSR State Council, formed after the coup, recognised the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 6 September 1991 (OmniAtlas summary). Tajikistan declared independence on 9 September and Armenia held its independence referendum on 21 September (Wikipedia).

The Supreme Soviet suspends Communist Party activity Kremlin and centre

On 29 August 1991 the Supreme Soviet suspended the activities of the Communist Party across the Soviet Union, and Vladimir Ivashko resigned as the party’s deputy leader (Wikipedia). Gorbachev had resigned as General Secretary on 24 August.

Republics declare or restore independence Republics

Estonia reinstated its independence on the night of 20 August (11:03 pm) and Latvia on 21 August, followed by Ukraine (24 August), Belarus (25 August), Moldova (27 August), Azerbaijan (30 August) and Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (31 August) (Wikipedia). Georgia had already declared independence on 9 April 1991, and Lithuania restored its independence on 11 March 1990.

Dates vary by source because several republics made a declaration first and a constitutional act later. The full table is further down.

Ukraine adopts its Act of Independence Republics

Ukraine’s parliament adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence on 24 August 1991, citing the danger revealed by the attempted coup, and set a referendum for 1 December to confirm it. The same day Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party and urged its Central Committee to dissolve itself.

The coup collapses and Gorbachev returns August coup

Three civilians were killed in a clash near the Russian parliament building at about 1 am on 21 August. Troops began to leave Moscow that morning and the committee’s leader, Gennady Yanayev, dissolved it at about 5 pm. Gorbachev flew back from Crimea overnight and landed at Vnukovo at about 2 am on 22 August (Wikipedia). The draft brief placed his return on 21 August; the flight and landing were on 22 August.

Hard-liners launch a coup against Gorbachev August coup

On 19 August 1991 the State Committee for the State of Emergency announced emergency rule from 4 am Moscow time. Gorbachev, on holiday at Foros in Crimea, had lost telephone contact the previous afternoon. Tanks entered Moscow, and Yeltsin climbed a tank outside the Russian parliament to denounce the coup (Wikipedia). The signing of the New Union Treaty, planned for 20 August, never took place.

Yeltsin wins Russia’s first presidential election Votes

Boris Yeltsin was elected the first president of Russia on 12 June 1991 with roughly 57% to 59% of the vote depending on how the total is counted (TASS reports 57.3%; Wikipedia 58.56%), ahead of Nikolai Ryzhkov (about 17%) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky (about 8%) (Wikipedia; Moscow Times). Gorbachev, by contrast, had been chosen by the Congress of People’s Deputies, not by voters.

The “9+1” agreement at Novo-Ogaryovo Kremlin and centre

Gorbachev and the leaders of nine republics reached the so-called 9+1 agreement on 23 April 1991 to draft a new union treaty (Michigan State University archive; Wikipedia). The Baltic states, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova stayed out. By August eight of the nine had approved a draft with conditions, while Ukraine had not agreed its terms.

A union-wide referendum on a renewed federation Votes

Voters were asked whether the USSR should be preserved as a “renewed federation of equal sovereign republics.” Turnout was 80.03% and 77.85% voted yes. Authorities in six republics, Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova, boycotted it (Wikipedia). Ukraine added its own question on a union of sovereign states (81.69% yes), and Russia added a question on creating an elected presidency. The draft brief said only that the Baltic states “did not participate in the same way”; six republics, not three, stayed out.

Violence in Vilnius and Riga Republics

On 13 January 1991 Soviet forces stormed the television tower and broadcasting centre in Vilnius; 14 civilians died and more than 700 were wounded (RFE/RL). A Vilnius court in 2019 found former defence minister Dmitry Yazov and more than 60 others guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. On 20 January Soviet OMON troops attacked Latvia’s Interior Ministry in Riga, and five people were killed, according to Latvian sources (Wikipedia).

Republics assert sovereignty over Moscow Republics

Lithuania restored its independence on 11 March 1990. In the same week the Congress of People’s Deputies ended the Communist Party’s constitutional monopoly (Article 6) and elected Gorbachev to the new post of president. Russia adopted its Declaration of State Sovereignty on 12 June 1990, one of the “parade of sovereignties” in which republic after republic claimed priority for its own laws (Wikipedia).

Gorbachev’s reforms change the system Kremlin and centre

Gorbachev became General Secretary in March 1985 and introduced perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness), meant to renew Soviet socialism, not end the state. Public debate exposed grievances, politics became competitive and economic problems were harder to hide. In 1989 communist governments across Eastern Europe fell (US Department of State); see the Berlin Wall timeline.

The Soviet Union is founded Kremlin and centre

The Union was created in December 1922 by a treaty among the Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian and Transcaucasian republics. That is the treaty Russia’s Supreme Soviet denounced on 12 December 1991. By 1991 the USSR consisted of 15 union republics.