The collapse of the USSR- a set of socio-economic and socio-political processes that led to the cessation of the existence of the Soviet Union as a state in 1989-1991.

Background and backstory

By the summer of 1989, “perestroika” had turned from a “revolution from above” into a matter for millions. It began to go not about improving the socialist system, but about its complete change. A wave of large-scale strikes swept across the country. In July 1989, almost all coal basins went on strike: Donbass, Kuzbass, Karaganda, Vorkuta. The miners put forward not only economic, but also political demands: the abolition of the sixth article of the Constitution, freedom of the press, independent trade unions. The government headed by N. I. Ryzhkov satisfied most of the economic demands (the right to independently dispose of part of the production, determine the form of management or ownership, and set prices). The strike movement began to gain momentum, the Confederation of Labor was created. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR was forced to speed up the process of adopting legislative acts aimed at ensuring the independence of labor collectives. The law of the USSR "On the procedure for resolving collective labor disputes" was adopted.

The "hot summer" of 1989 was followed by a crisis of confidence in the leadership of the country. Participants in crowded rallies openly criticized the course of "perestroika", the indecision and inconsistency of the authorities. The population was outraged by the empty store shelves and the increase in crime.

The "velvet" revolutions in the countries of the Socialist camp, which led to the fall of communist regimes, and the growth of internal contradictions within the CPSU itself forced the party leadership to reconsider its position on the issue of a multi-party system. The sixth article of the USSR Constitution was abolished, which created a real opportunity for the reorganization of numerous informal associations into political parties. In 1989-1990, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) headed by V.V. Zhirinovsky, the Democratic Party of N.I. Travkin and G.K. Kasparov, the Peasant Party of Russia appeared. Parties that supported anti-communist views united under the Democratic Russia movement. "Demorossy" actively participated in the campaign for the election of people's deputies of Russia in the winter-spring of 1990. The left and national-patriotic forces, unlike their ideological opponents, were unable to consolidate and attract the electorate - democratic slogans in those conditions turned out to be more attractive to the population.

The situation in the Union republics

In the union republics, the problems of interethnic relations have become more acute. In 1988-1991, a wave of interethnic conflicts swept across the USSR: the Armenian-Karabakh conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and Sumgayit (1988) and in Baku (199), between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks in Ferghana (1989), the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in Sukhumi (1989). ), Georgian-Ossetian in Tskhinvali (1990). Hundreds of people became victims of pogroms and clashes on ethnic grounds, many, fleeing the reprisals, were forced to move to other parts of the USSR or emigrate. The party began to discuss national problems in September 1989 at the next plenum, but specific acts designed to regulate interethnic and federative relations were adopted only in the spring of 1990. At that time, the central government was no longer strong enough to resort to decisive measures in the republics in the event of a flare-up of unrest there.

Separatist and nationalist forces in the Union republics began to accuse the central government of indifference to the fate of non-Russian peoples, developed the idea of ​​annexation and occupation of their territories by the USSR, and before that by Russia. As a reaction to this, the September plenum of the Central Committee in 1989 stated that the RSFSR was in conditions of financial and economic discrimination. However, the country's leadership did not offer a way out of the situation. Particularly sharp anti-Soviet rhetoric was adhered to in the Baltic republics: back in 1988, local authorities demanded to "clarify" the events of 1940 related to their accession to the USSR. At the end of 1988 - beginning of 1989, legislative acts were adopted in the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian SSRs, according to which local languages ​​acquired the status of state languages. The session of the Estonian Supreme Council also adopted a "Declaration of Sovereignty". Lithuania and Latvia soon followed suit. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted an act “On the Restoration of an Independent State”: the Lithuanian SSR was renamed the Republic of Lithuania, the validity of the Constitution of the Lithuanian SSR and the Constitution of the USSR on its territory was canceled. On March 30, a similar act was adopted in Estonia, and on May 4 - in Latvia.

Socio-political situation. Crisis in the CPSU

Against this background, the national-patriotic movement in the RSFSR itself was gaining strength. In its wake, a wide range of organizations moved up to the Orthodox monarchists, demanding the revival of autocratic power and increasing the authority of the Orthodox Church (“Memory” by D. Vasiliev, “Orthodox-monarchist consent” by Yu. Sokolov). The rapid pace of the awakening of national and religious feelings forced other political forces of the RSFSR to adopt many national-patriotic slogans. The idea of ​​Russian sovereignty was also supported by the democrats, who had opposed the sovereignization of the RSFSR until the beginning of 1990, and even by the Communist Party. On March 26, 1990, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR discussed the draft Concept of the economic independence of the republic. Discussions around the interpretation of the concept of "sovereignty" were largely formal in nature: the main stumbling block in the dialogue between allied and Russian politicians was the problem of a radical change in the existing socio-economic and political system. If Gorbachev continued to assert that the goal of the reforms was the renewal of socialism, then Yeltsin and his associates insisted on the liberal-democratic nature of the upcoming reforms.

Against the backdrop of the emergence of openly anti-socialist and anti-communist parties, the CPSU, which formally retained organizational and ideological unity, in fact was no longer a community of like-minded people. With the beginning of "Perestroika" in 1985, two approaches began to develop in the CPSU - liquidationist and pragmatic. Adherents of the first believed that the party should not be rebuilt, but liquidated. MS Gorbachev also adhered to this point of view. Proponents of a different approach saw the CPSU as the only all-Union force whose removal from power would plunge the country into chaos. Therefore, they believed, the party needed to be reorganized. The apogee of the crisis of the CPSU was its last, XXVIII congress in July 1990. Many delegates spoke critically about the work of the party leadership. The party program was replaced by the program document "Towards Humane Democratic Socialism", and the right of individuals and groups to express their views in "platforms" revived factionalism. The party de facto split into several “platforms”: the “democratic platform” took social democratic positions, the “Marxist platform” advocated a return to classical Marxism, the Communist Initiative movement and the Unity for Leninism and Communist Ideals society united party members extreme left views.

Confrontation of the Union and Republican authorities

From the middle of 1990, after the adoption in June 1990 by the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR of the Declaration on Russian Sovereignty, Russia pursued an independent policy. Republican constitutions and laws took precedence over federal ones. On October 24, 1990, Russian authorities received the right to suspend union acts that violated the sovereignty of the RSFSR. All decisions of the USSR authorities concerning the RSFSR could now come into effect only after their ratification by the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. The allied authorities lost control over the natural resources and basic production assets of the union republics, to conclude trade and economic agreements with foreign partners in connection with the import of goods from the union republics. The RSFSR has its own Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Main Customs Administration, the Main Tourism Administration, the Commodity Exchange and other institutions. Branches of Soviet banks located on its territory passed into the ownership of Russia: the State Bank of the USSR, the Promstroybank of the USSR, the Agroprombank of the USSR and others. The Russian Republican Bank of the USSR became the State Bank of the RSFSR. All taxes collected on the territory of the RSFSR now went to the republican budget.

Gradually there was a reorientation of the judicial republican structures to give priority to legislation and the interests of the RSFSR, the Ministry of Press and Information accelerated the development of Russian television and the press. In January 1991, the question arose of having our own army for the RSFSR. In May of the same year, the republic acquired its own KGB. In January 1991, the Federation Council of the RSFSR was created.

The law "On Property in the RSFSR", adopted on December 24, 1990, legalized the variety of forms of ownership: now property could be in private, state and municipal ownership, as well as in the ownership of public associations. The Law "On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activity" was intended to stimulate the activity of various enterprises. Laws were also adopted on the privatization of state and municipal enterprises, housing stock. There are prerequisites for attracting foreign capital. In mid-1991, there were already nine free economic zones in Russia. Considerable attention was paid to the agrarian sector: debts were written off from state and collective farms, attempts were made to start an agrarian reform by encouraging all forms of management.

Instead of the gradual transformation of the state “from above” proposed by the allied leadership, the RFSR authorities began to build a new federation “from below”. In October 1990, the RSFSR concluded direct bilateral agreements with Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and the idea of ​​the "Union of Four" began to be voiced: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In January 1991, Russia signed similar agreements with the Baltic republics. The object of the struggle for influence between the allied and Russian authorities at that time was the autonomous republics. At the end of April 1990, the USSR Law "On the delimitation of powers between the Union of the SSR and the subjects of the federation" was adopted, which raised the status of autonomies to subjects of the federation and allowed them to transfer powers to the Union of the SSR, bypassing "their" union republic. The opportunities that opened up whetted the appetites of the local national elites: by the end of 1990, 14 out of 16 Russian autonomous republics declared their sovereignty, and the remaining two and part of the autonomous regions raised their political status. Many Declarations contained demands for the supremacy of republican legislation over Russian. The struggle between the allied and Russian authorities for influence on the autonomy continued until August 1991.

The inconsistency in the actions of the union and Russian centers of power led to unpredictable consequences. In the autumn of 1990, the socio-political moods of the population became more radical, which was largely due to the lack of food and other goods, including tobacco, which provoked "tobacco" riots (more than a hundred of them were recorded in the capital alone). In September the country was shaken by the grain crisis. Many citizens saw these difficulties as artificial, accusing the authorities of purposeful sabotage.

On November 7, 1990, during a festive demonstration on Red Square, Gorbachev almost became a victim of an assassination attempt: he was shot twice, but missed. After this incident, Gorbachev's course noticeably "corrected": the President of the USSR submitted proposals to the Supreme Council aimed at strengthening the executive power ("Gorbachev's 8 points"). At the beginning of January 1991, in fact, a form of presidential government was introduced. The tendency to strengthen the union structures worried liberal politicians, who believed that Gorbachev fell under the influence of "reactionary" circles. Thus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, E. A. Shevardnadze, declared that “a dictatorship is coming,” and left his post in protest.

In Vilnius, on the night of January 12-13, 1991, during an attempt to seize a television center, a clash occurred between the population and units of the army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It came to bloodshed: 14 people were killed, another 140 were injured. Five people died in Riga in similar clashes. The Russian democratic forces reacted painfully to the incident, intensifying their criticism of the union leadership and law enforcement agencies. On February 19, 1991, speaking on television, Yeltsin demanded Gorbachev's resignation, and a few days later he called on his supporters "to declare war on the country's leadership." Yeltsin's steps were condemned even by many comrades-in-arms. Thus, on February 21, 1990, at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, six members of its Presidium demanded Yeltsin's resignation.

In March 1991, the Third Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR met. At it, the Russian leadership was supposed to report on the work done, but against the background of the entry of troops into Moscow by the allied authorities on the eve of the opening of the Congress, this event turned into a platform for condemning Gorbachev's actions. Yeltsin and those who supported him made the most of their chance and accused the union government of putting pressure on the Congress, calling on "progressive-minded" members of the CPSU to join the coalition. The possibility of such a coalition was illustrated by the demarche of A. V. Rutskoy, who announced the formation of the Communists for Democracy faction and expressed his readiness to support Yeltsin. The Communists split at the Congress. As a result, the III Congress gave Yeltsin additional powers, significantly strengthening his position in the leadership of the RSFSR.

Preparation of a new union treaty

By the spring of 1991, it became obvious that the leadership of the USSR had lost control over what was happening in the country. All-Union and republican authorities continued to fight for the delimitation of powers between the Center and the republics - each in his own favor. In January 1991, Gorbachev, in an effort to preserve the USSR, initiated an all-Union referendum on March 17, 1991. Citizens were asked to answer the question: “Do you consider it necessary to preserve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, in which the rights and freedoms of a person of any nationality will be fully guaranteed?” Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia refused to hold a referendum at home. The Russian leadership also opposed Gorbachev's idea, criticizing the way the issue was raised in the bulletin. In Russia, a parallel referendum was announced on the establishment of the post of president in the republic.

In total, 80% of citizens who have the right to take part in it came to the all-Union referendum. Of these, 76.4% answered the referendum question positively, 21.7% - negatively. In the RSFSR, 71.3% of those who voted supported the preservation of the Union in the wording proposed by Gorbachev, and almost the same number - 70% - supported the introduction of the post of President of Russia. The IV Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, held in May 1991, made a decision on presidential elections in a short time. Elections were held on June 12 of the same year. 57.3% of voters cast their votes in favor of the candidacy of B. N. Yeltsin. He was followed by N.I. Ryzhkov with 16.8%, and in third place was V.V. Zhirinovsky with 7.8%. Yeltsin became the popularly elected president of Russia, and this strengthened his authority and popularity among the people. Gorbachev, in turn, lost both, being criticized both "from the right" and "from the left."

As a result of the referendum, the President of the USSR made a new attempt to resume the development of a union treaty. The first stage of Gorbachev's negotiations with the leaders of the Union republics in his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo took place from April 23 to July 23, 1991. The leaders of 8 out of 15 republics expressed their readiness to join the agreement. The participants of the meeting agreed that it would be expedient to sign the agreement in September-October at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, but on July 29-30, 1991, having met in private with Yeltsin and the Kazakh leader N A. Nazarbaev, the President of the USSR proposed to sign the draft earlier, on August 20. In exchange for their consent, Gorbachev accepted Yeltsin's demands for a single-channel system for tax revenues to the budgets, as well as for personnel changes in the union leadership. These reshuffles were supposed to affect the Prime Minister V. S. Pavlov, the head of the KGB V. A. Kryuchkov, the Minister of Defense D. T. Yazov, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs B. K. Pugo and Vice President G. I. Yanaev. All of them in June-July 1991 advocated decisive measures to preserve the USSR.

August coup

On August 4, Gorbachev went on vacation to the Crimea. The top leaders of the USSR objected to plans to sign the Union Treaty. Unable to convince the President of the USSR, they decided to act independently in his absence. On August 18, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was created in Moscow, which included Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Yanaev, as well as the chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR V. A. Starodubtsev, president of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial Facilities, Construction, Transport and Communications A. I. Tizyakov and First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council O. D. Baklanov. On the morning of the next day, a decree was issued by Vice-President Yanaev, which stated that Gorbachev, for health reasons, could not fulfill his duties, and therefore they were transferred to Yanaev. The “Statement of the Soviet leadership” was also published, in which it was reported that a state of emergency was introduced in certain areas of the USSR for a period of six months, and an “Appeal to the Soviet people”, where Gorbachev’s reform policy was called a dead end. The GKChP decided to immediately disband the power structures and formations that contradict the Constitution and laws of the USSR, suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and movements that impede the normalization of the situation, take measures to protect public order and establish control over the media. 4,000 soldiers and officers and armored vehicles were brought into Moscow.

The Russian leadership promptly responded to the actions of the State Emergency Committee, calling the committee itself a "junta" and its speech a "putsch." Under the walls of the building of the House of Soviets of the RSFSR ("White House") on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, supporters of the Russian authorities began to gather. President Yeltsin signed a number of decrees, by which he reassigned all the executive authorities of the USSR on the territory of the RSFSR, including units of the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.

The confrontation between the Russian authorities and the State Emergency Committee did not go beyond the center of Moscow: in the Union republics, as well as in the regions of Russia, local authorities and elites behaved with restraint. On the night of August 21, three young people from among those who came to defend the White House died in the capital. The bloodshed finally deprived the GKChP of a chance for success. The Russian authorities launched a large-scale political offensive against the enemy. The outcome of the crisis largely depended on Gorbachev's position: representatives of both sides flew to him in Foros, and he made a choice in favor of Yeltsin and his associates. Late in the evening of August 21, the President of the USSR returned to Moscow. All members of the GKChP were detained.

The dismantling of the state structures of the USSR and the legal registration of its collapse

At the end of August, the dismantling of allied political and state structures began. The V Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, which worked from September 2 to 6, adopted several important documents. The Constitution of the USSR was no longer in force, it was announced that the state had entered a transitional period until the adoption of a new fundamental law and the election of new authorities. At this time, the Congress and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR stopped working, the State Council of the USSR was created, which included the presidents and top officials of the Union republics.

On August 23, 1991, B. N. Yeltsin signed the Decree "On the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party of the RSFSR." Soon the CPSU was actually banned, and its property and accounts became the property of Russia. On September 25, Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the party and called for its self-dissolution. Communist parties were also banned in Ukraine, Moldavia, Lithuania, and then in other union republics. On August 25, the Council of Ministers of the USSR was liquidated. Until the end of 1991, the prosecutor's office, the State Planning Committee and the USSR Ministry of Finance came under Russian jurisdiction. In August-November 1991, the reform of the KGB continued. By the beginning of December, most of the allied structures had been liquidated or redistributed.

On August 24, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed Ukraine an independent democratic state. On the same day Belarus followed suit. On August 27, Moldova did the same, on August 30 - Azerbaijan, on August 21 - Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On August 24, Russia recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which, in turn, declared independence on August 20-21. Supporters of the preservation of the Union believed in the prospect of an economic agreement between countries. On October 18, 1991, the President of the USSR and the heads of 8 republics (excluding Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan) signed the Treaty on the Economic Community of Sovereign States in the Kremlin. At the same time, a draft Union Treaty was being developed. On November 14, in its final draft, the future Union was defined as a "confederal democratic state." It was decided to start negotiations on its creation on November 25th. But on the appointed day, Yeltsin proposed returning to the agreed text, replacing the wording "confederal democratic state" with "confederation of independent states", and also suggested waiting for the decision to be made by the citizens of Ukraine in a referendum (December 1, those had to decide whether to remain in the Union or not) . As a result, more than 90% of those who voted voted for the independence of Ukraine. The next day, December 2, Russia recognized the independence of the republic.

On December 8, 1991, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus S. S. Shushkevich, the President of Ukraine L. M. Kravchuk and B. N. Yeltsin signed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha the "Agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States", in the preamble of which it was stated: "The Union of the SSR as a subject international law and geopolitical reality ceases to exist.” On December 21, 1991, in Alma-Ata, eight more republics joined the Belovezhskaya agreements on the formation of the CIS. On December 25, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR approved the new name of the republic - the Russian Federation (Russia). On the same day, at 19:38, the red Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin, and the Russian tricolor was raised to replace it.

The criteria for the power of all empires from antiquity to the present day are approximately the same - a prosperous economy, a strong army, advanced science and ambitious citizens. But all great powers die in different ways. The USSR stands apart here, which collapsed despite the presence of the main condition for its existence - a submissive population, ready to endure violations of human rights and inconvenience in everyday life in exchange for the greatness of their country. The mentality of this population has been preserved in modern capitalist Russia, but these people betrayed their socialist homeland in 1991 and did not save it.

The main reason is the fact that V.I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks managed to win over more people to their side than the rest of the reformers. However, this was by no means a democratic process, when people make a conscious and balanced choice.

The Bolsheviks achieved success thanks to several factors:

1. Their development program may not have been the best, but their slogans were simple and clear to the illiterate majority population;
2. The Bolsheviks were more resolute and more active than their political opponents, including in matters of the use of violence;
3. Both whites and reds made mistakes and shed blood, but the latter felt better the mood and aspirations of the people;
4. The Bolsheviks managed to find foreign sources of funding for their activities.

The Soviet state was born as a result of a long overdue revolution and a bloody civil war. The monarchy brought the people to such a point that the most opposite model of development to it seemed to many to be the only true one.

What was really good in the USSR?

The Evil Empire lived up to its name. Repressions, Gulags, mysterious deaths of great poets and other hard-hitting pages of history have not yet been thoroughly studied. However, there were some positives:

• Elimination of illiteracy. By the end of the existence of the Russian Empire, according to various estimates, from 30 to 56 percent of the population were literate. It took about 20 years to improve such a catastrophic situation;
• Lack of social stratification. If you do not take into account the ruling elite, then among the citizens there was no such monstrous inequality in living standards and wages, as in tsarist or modern Russia;
• Equality of Opportunity. People from worker-peasant families could rise to the highest positions. In the Politburo there were a majority of them;
• The cult of science. Unlike today, on television and in the media, much attention was paid not only to the activities of the first persons of the state, but also to science.

The world is not divided only into black and white; many phenomena in our life are very contradictory. The USSR hindered the development of the Eastern European and Baltic countries, but gave medicine, education and infrastructure to the Central Asian republics.

In 1939, a non-aggression pact was signed, in the secret protocol of which the countries divided Eastern Europe. The same year was marked by a solemn parade of the Wehrmacht and the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army in Brest.

At first glance, there was no reason for the war. But it did, and here's why:

1. In 1940, the Soviet Union failed to reach an agreement with the Axis countries (Third Reich, fascist Italy, the Empire of Japan) on the conditions for joining the Berlin Pact (an agreement on the division of Europe and Asia). The largest country in the world was not enough of the territories that Germany offered, so it was not possible to agree. Many experts on World War II believe that it was after these events that Hitler finally decided to attack the USSR;
2. According to the trade agreement, the Soviet Union was already supplying raw materials and food to the Third Reich, but this was not enough for Hitler. He wanted to get the entire resource base of the USSR;
3. Hitler had a strong dislike for Jews and communism. In the Land of the Soviets, his two main objects of hatred were woven together.

The logical and obvious reasons for the attack are listed here, what other ulterior motives Hitler was guided by is unknown.

The main reason is that people no longer wanted to live in this state. Watching today a large number of nostalgic and wishing to revive the Union, we can conclude that in 1991 the majority did not draw intellectual conclusions, but only wanted changes because there was nothing to eat.

Among the others reasons for the collapse the following should be highlighted:

• Inefficient economy. If the socialist system managed to solve at least the problem of food shortages, then the population could endure the lack of normal clothes, equipment and cars for a long time;
• Bureaucracy. Key and leading positions were appointed not by professionals in their field, but by members of the Communist Party, who strictly followed instructions from above;
• Propaganda and censorship. Streams of propaganda were endless, and information about emergencies and disasters was hushed up and hidden;
• Weak industrial diversification. There was nothing to export except oil and weapons. When the price of oil collapsed, problems began;
• Lack of individual freedom. This held back the creative potential of people, including in the field of scientific discoveries and innovations. The result was a technical backlog in many industries;
• Isolation of the ruling elite from the population. While the people were forced to be content with low-quality creations of the mass industry of the USSR, members of the Politburo had access to all the benefits of ideological opponents from the West.

To finally understand the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, you need to look at the modern Korean Peninsula. In 1945, South Korea came under the jurisdiction of the United States, and North - the USSR. There was a famine in North Korea in the 90s, and according to 2006 data, a third of the population was chronically malnourished. South Korea is the "Asian tiger", with an area smaller than the Orenburg region, this country now produces everything from phones and computers to cars and the world's largest ships.

Video: 6 reasons for the collapse of the USSR in 6 minutes

In this video, historian Oleg Perov will talk about 6 main reasons why the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991:

In what year did the USSR collapse? Who led a powerful state to collapse? What are the reasons for this collapse? The authorities had to answer these and many other questions in the early 90s of the last century. For Russia, this century was extremely contradictory: the beginning and end marked the collapse of the previous regime, and the middle - the prosperity and glory of the new one.

The collapse of the USSR: background and date

In what year did the USSR collapse? Officially, December 1991 is considered to be this date, but we can safely say that this phenomenon began with the new course of the next general secretary. Mikhail Gorbachev boldly introduced his reforms in the country, and he did it completely inconsistently. This can be said based on his actions: he sought to introduce new methods of governing the country in various sectors of life, but at the same time retained the system of power of the old regime. The collapse was also influenced by a deep political crisis, which was exacerbated by economic instability. The growth of national movements in the republics also accelerated the collapse of the once great union. The central government was already losing all its power, and the ambitions of many political leaders made it possible to talk about the formation of a multi-party system. Thus, Mikhail Gorbachev only encouraged all these phenomena and, when the USSR collapsed, did not pay much attention to the new state - unstable and weak. All these actions marked the beginning of a new era, which would later be referred to as the "dashing 90s."

The collapse of the USSR: date, reason, characters

The collapse of the USSR, as noted above, began to be "prepared" for new reforms from the very beginning of perestroika. All the actions of the authorities indicated that the time had come for the end of the Soviet Union: the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the end of the Cold War and, as a result, the defeat in it, the worship of the West - Gorbachev's entire policy was aimed at weakening the role of the Union in Europe. The reason for the collapse was an attempted coup d'état by the GKChP. This body in August 1991 tried to cut off Gorbachev from information and seize power in their own hands. However, Boris Yeltsin played a big role here, of course, not without protecting his interests. The organizers of the GKChP were arrested, and the attempt to overthrow Mikhail Sergeevich failed. Despite this, the USSR continued to exist. Moreover, a referendum was even held, in which the people expressed their opinion on the preservation of the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that the majority voted "for the preservation." In what year did the USSR collapse? The opinion of the people was not taken into account, and already in December 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announced that the Declaration on the termination of the existence of the Union had been signed. This is how the history of a great, powerful state ended ingloriously. This is how the entire era of the Union was brought to naught.

In what year did the USSR collapse?

Who played the main role in this? Now you know the answers to these questions. What did the collapse lead to? First, to the formation of 15 new independent republics. Secondly, to the aggravation of interethnic conflicts and to the deterioration of economic ties between regions. Thirdly, to the weakening of the defense capability of each new country. It took a long time to solve these problems.

The collapse of the USSR (also the collapse of the USSR) is the processes of systemic disintegration in the national economy, social structure, public and political sphere of the Soviet Union, which led to the termination of its existence as a state in 1991.

background

In 1922, at the time of its creation, the Soviet Union inherited most of the territory, multinational structure and multi-confessional environment of the Russian Empire. In 1917-1921, Finland and Poland gained independence and declared sovereignty: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Tuva. Some territories of the former Russian Empire were annexed in 1939–1946.

The USSR included: Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, the Baltic states, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, the Tuva People's Republic, Transcarpathia, and a number of other territories.

As one of the winners in the Second World War, the Soviet Union, following its results and on the basis of international treaties, secured the right to own and dispose of vast territories in Europe and Asia, access to the seas and oceans, colossal natural and human resources. The country emerged from a bloody war with a fairly developed socialist-type economy for that time, based on regional specialization and interregional economic ties, most of which worked for the country's defense.

In the sphere of influence of the USSR were the countries of the so-called socialist camp. In 1949, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was created, and later the collective currency, the transferable ruble, was put into circulation, which was in circulation in the socialist countries. Thanks to the strict control over ethno-national groups, the introduction into the mass consciousness of the slogan of indestructible friendship and brotherhood of the peoples of the USSR, it was possible to minimize the number of interethnic (ethnic) conflicts of separatist or anti-Soviet persuasion.

Separate actions of workers that took place in the 1960s-1970s, for the most part, were in the nature of protests against the unsatisfactory provision (supply) of socially significant goods, services, low wages and dissatisfaction with the work of the local authorities.

The Constitution of the USSR of 1977 proclaims a single, new historical community of people - the Soviet people. In the middle and late 1980s, with the beginning of perestroika, glasnost and democratization, the nature of protests and mass demonstrations changed somewhat.

The union republics that made up the USSR were, according to the Constitution, considered sovereign states; each of which was assigned the right to secede from the USSR by the Constitution, but there were no legal norms in the legislation regulating the procedure for this seceding. Only in April 1990 was the corresponding law adopted, which provided for the possibility of the union republic secession from the USSR, but after the implementation of rather complex and difficult procedures.

Formally, the union republics had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude agreements with them and exchange

diplomatic and consular representatives, participate in the activities of international organizations; for example, the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs, based on the results of the agreements reached at the Yalta Conference, had their representatives in the UN from the moment it was founded.

In reality, such "initiatives from below" required detailed coordination in Moscow. All appointments to key party and economic positions in the union republics and autonomies were preliminary considered and approved at the center, the leadership and the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee played a decisive role under the one-party system.

Reasons for the disappearance of a great power

Among historians there is no consensus on the reasons for the collapse of the USSR. Rather, there were several. Here are the most basic ones.

Degradation of power

The USSR was formed by fanatics of the idea. Ardent revolutionaries came to power. Their main goal is to build a communist power, where everyone would be equal. All people are brothers. They work and live the same way.

Only the fundamentalists of communism were allowed to power. And every year there were less and less of them. The top bureaucracy was getting old. The country buried the General Secretaries. After Brezhnev's death, Andropov came to power. And two years later - his funeral. The post of General Secretary is occupied by Chernenko. A year later he is buried. Gorbachev becomes General Secretary. He was too young for the country. At the time of his election, he was 54 years old. Before Gorbachev, the average age of leaders was 75 years.

The new leadership proved to be incompetent. There was no longer that fanaticism and that ideology. Gorbachev became the catalyst for the collapse of the USSR. His famous perestroika led to a weakening of the monocentrism of power. And the union republics took advantage of this moment.

Everyone wanted independence

The leaders of the republics sought to get rid of centralized power. As mentioned above, with the advent of Gorbachev, they did not fail to take advantage of democratic reforms. The regional authorities had a lot of reasons for dissatisfaction:

• centralized decision-making hampered the activity of the union republics;
• time was lost;
• individual regions of a multinational country wanted to develop independently, because they had their own culture, their own history;
• a certain nationalism is peculiar to every republic;
• numerous conflicts, protests, coups only added fuel to the fire; and many historians consider the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the creation of a United Germany as the catalyst.

Crisis in all spheres of life

Something, but the crisis phenomena in the USSR were characteristic of all areas:

• on the shelves there was a catastrophic lack of essential goods;
• products of inadequate quality were produced (the pursuit of deadlines, the reduction in the cost of raw materials led to a drop in the quality of consumer goods);
• uneven development of individual republics in the union; the weakness of the raw materials economy of the USSR (this became especially noticeable after the decline in world oil prices);
• severe censorship in the media; active growth of the shadow economy.

The situation was exacerbated by man-made disasters. Especially the people rebelled after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The planned economy in this situation caused many deaths. The reactors were put into operation on time, but not in proper condition. And all information was hidden from people.

With the advent of Gorbachev, the veil to the West opened. And the people saw how others live. Soviet citizens smelled freedom. They wanted more.

The USSR turned out to be problematic in terms of morality. Soviet people engaged in sex, and drank, and indulged in drugs, and faced crime. Years of silence and denial made the confession too harsh.

The collapse of ideology

A huge country rested on the strongest idea: to build a bright communist future. The ideals of communism were instilled from birth. Kindergarten, school, work - a person grew together with the idea of ​​​​equality and brotherhood. Any attempt to think differently, or even a hint of an attempt, was severely suppressed.

But the main ideologists of the country grew old and passed away. The younger generation did not need communism. For what? If there is nothing to eat, it is impossible to buy anything, it is difficult to say, it is difficult to leave somewhere. Yes, and people are dying because of the restructuring.

Not the last role in the collapse of the USSR is assigned to the activities of the United States. Huge powers claimed world domination. And the States systematically "erased" the union state from the map of Europe (Cold War, initiating a fall in oil prices).

All these factors did not even leave a chance for the preservation of the USSR. The great power broke up into separate states.

fatal dates

The collapse of the USSR began in 1985. Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, announced the start of perestroika. In short, its essence meant the complete reform of the Soviet system of power and economy. As for the latter, a transition to private enterprise in the form of cooperatives is being tried here. If we take the ideological side of the issue, then the mitigation of censorship and the improvement of relations with the West were declared. Perestroika causes euphoria among the population, which receives unprecedented, by the standards of the Soviet Union, freedom.

And then what went wrong?

Almost all. The fact is that the economic situation in the country began to deteriorate. Plus, national conflicts are escalating - for example, the conflict in Karabakh. In 1989–1991, a total food shortage began in the USSR. On the outside, the situation is no better - the Soviet Union is losing ground in Eastern Europe. Pro-Soviet communist regimes are overthrown in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania.

Meanwhile, the population is no longer in euphoria due to food shortages. In 1990, disappointment with the Soviet government reaches its limit. At this time legalized

private property, stock and currency markets are formed, cooperation begins to take the form of Western-style business. In the external arena, the USSR finally loses its status as a superpower. Separatist sentiments are brewing in the Union republics. The priority of republican legislation over union legislation is massively announced. In general, it is clear to everyone that the Soviet Union is living out its last days.

Wait, there was some other coup there, tanks?

All right. First, on June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin became president of the RSFSR. Mikhail Gorbachev was still president of the USSR. In August of the same year, the Treaty on the Union of Sovereign States was published. By that time, all the union republics had declared their sovereignty. Thus, the USSR ceased to exist in its usual form, offering a soft form of confederation. 9 out of 15 republics were supposed to enter there.

But the signing of the treaty was thwarted by the old hardened communists. They created the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) and declared their disobedience to Gorbachev. In short, their goal is to prevent the collapse of the Union.

And then the famous August putsch happened, which also famously failed. The same tanks were driving to Moscow, Yeltsin's defenders block the equipment with trolleybuses. On August 21, a column of tanks is withdrawn from Moscow. Later, members of the GKChP are arrested. And the union republics massively declare independence. On December 1, a referendum is held in Ukraine, where independence is proclaimed on August 24, 1991.

And what happened on December 8th?

The last nail in the coffin of the USSR. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, as the founders of the USSR, stated that "the Union of the SSR as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality ceases to exist." And they announced the creation of the CIS. On December 25-26, the authorities of the USSR as a subject of international law ceased to exist. On December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation.

3 more reasons that caused the collapse of the USSR

The country's economy and the war in Afghanistan were not the only reasons that "helped" to break up the Soviet Union. Let's name 3 more events that took place in the mid-late 90s of the last century, and many began to associate with the collapse of the USSR:

1. Fall of the Iron Curtain. The propaganda of the Soviet leadership about the "terrible" standard of living in the United States and the democratic countries of Europe collapsed after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
2. Man-made disasters. Since the mid-80s, man-made disasters have passed all over the country. The apogee was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
3. Morality. The low morale of people holding public office helped the development of theft and lawlessness in the country.

1. If we talk about the main geopolitical consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union, then first of all it should be said that globalization could begin only from that moment. Before that, the world was divided. And often these boundaries were impassable. And when the Soviet Union collapsed, the world became a single information, economic, political system. The bipolar confrontation is a thing of the past, and globalization has taken place.
2. The second most important consequence is the most serious restructuring of the entire Eurasian space. This is the emergence of 15 states on the site of the former Soviet Union. Then followed the collapse of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia. The emergence of a huge number of not only new states, but also unrecognized republics, which sometimes waged bloody wars among themselves.
3. The third consequence is the emergence of a unipolar moment on the world political scene. For some time, the United States remained the only superpower in the world that, in principle, had the ability to solve any problems at its own discretion. At this time, there was a sharp increase in the American presence, not only in those regions that had fallen away from the Soviet Union. I mean both Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union, but also in other regions of the globe.
4. The fourth consequence is a serious expansion of the West. If earlier the Eastern European states, like the West, were not considered, now they are not only considered, but actually institutionally became part of the Western alliances. I mean the members of the European Union and NATO.
5. The next most important consequence is the transformation of China into the second largest center of world development. China, after the Soviet Union left the historical arena, on the contrary, began to gain strength, using the opposite pattern of development. The opposite of the one proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev. If Gorbachev offered democracy without a market economy, then China offered a market economy while maintaining the old political regime and achieved amazing success. If at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union the economy of the RSFSR was three times the size of the Chinese, now the Chinese economy is four times the size of the economy of the Russian Federation.
6. And, finally, the last major consequence is that developing countries, primarily African ones, were left to fend for themselves. Because if during the bipolar confrontation each of the poles somehow tried to help assist its allies outside its immediate zone of influence or outside its countries, then after the end of the Cold War, all this stopped. And all the flows of aid that went to development in different regions of the globe, both from the Soviet Union and from the West, abruptly ended. And this led to serious economic problems in virtually all developing countries in the 1990s.

conclusions

The Soviet Union was a large-scale project, but it was destined to fail, as this was facilitated by the domestic and foreign policies of states. Many researchers believe that the fate of the USSR was predetermined with the coming to power in 1985 of Mikhail Gorbachev. The official date for the collapse of the Soviet Union was 1991.

There are a great many possible reasons why the USSR collapsed, and the main ones are considered to be the following:

• economic;
• ideological;
• social;
• political.

Economic difficulties in the countries led to the collapse of the union of republics. In 1989, the government officially recognized the economic crisis. This period was characterized by the main problem of the Soviet Union - the shortage of goods. There were no goods on free sale except bread. The population is being transferred to special coupons, according to which it was possible to get the necessary food.

After the decline in world oil prices, the union of republics faced a big problem. This led to the fact that in two years foreign trade turnover decreased by 14 billion rubles. Low-quality products began to be produced, which provoked a general economic decline in the country. The Chernobyl tragedy in terms of losses amounted to 1.5% of the national income and led to riots. Many were outraged by the policies of the state. The population suffered from hunger and poverty. The main factor why the USSR collapsed was M. Gorbachev's ill-considered economic policy. The launch of mechanical engineering, the reduction of foreign purchases of consumer goods, the increase in wages and pensions, and other reasons undermined the country's economy. Political reforms were ahead of economic processes and led to the inevitable loosening of the established system. In the early years of his reign, Mikhail Gorbachev was wildly popular with the population, as he introduced innovations and changed stereotypes. However, after the era of perestroika, the country entered the years of economic and political hopelessness. Unemployment began, lack of food and essential goods, hunger, increased crime.

The political factor in the collapse of the union was the desire of the leaders of the republics to get rid of centralized power. Many regions wanted to develop independently, without the decrees of a centralized government, each had its own culture and history. Over time, the population of the republics begins to incite rallies and uprisings on ethnic grounds, which forced the leaders to make radical decisions. The democratic orientation of M. Gorbachev's policy helped them create their own internal laws and a plan for leaving the Soviet Union.

Historians identify another reason why the USSR collapsed. The leadership and foreign policy of the United States played a significant role in the end of the union. The US and the Soviet Union have always fought for world domination. It was in America's interests to wipe the USSR off the map in the first place. Evidence of this is the ongoing policy of the "cold curtain", the artificial underestimation of the price of oil. Many researchers believe that it was the United States that contributed to the formation of Mikhail Gorbachev at the helm of a great power. Year after year, he planned and implemented the fall of the Soviet Union.

On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. Some political parties and organizations did not want to recognize the collapse of the USSR, believing that the country was attacked and influenced by Western powers.

Eleven years before the collapse of the USSR

On the morning of May 20, 1980, Ronald Reagan (US President) received William Casey (CIA director), who provided Reagan with new information about the state of affairs in the USSR, namely, Casey presented unofficial secret materials about problems in the USSR economy. Reagan liked to read such information about the USSR, and in his diary on March 26, 1981, he wrote the following entry: the USSR is in a very bad position, if we refrain from loans, they will ask for help from others, because otherwise they will starve to death. Casey personally selected all the information on the USSR, bringing his old dream closer - collapse of the USSR.

On March 26, 1981, W. Casey arrived with a report to Reagan. Casey provided new information about the state of affairs in the USSR:
The USSR is in a very difficult position, there is an uprising in Poland, the USSR is stuck in Afghanistan, Cuba, Angola and Vietnam. Casey insisted that the best time to the collapse of the USSR does not exist. Reagan agreed and Casey began to prepare his proposals for collapse of the USSR.

Members of the working group leading the collapse of the USSR

Ronald Reagan, William Joseph Casey

George W. Bush, Caspar Willard Weinberger

In early 1982, Casey, in a private meeting at the White House, proposed plan for the collapse of the USSR. For some senior Reagan administration officials, the proposal for collapse of the USSR came as a shock. Throughout the 1970s, the West and Europe accustomed themselves to the idea that it was necessary not to fight with the USSR, but to negotiate. Most believed that there was simply no other way in the era of nuclear weapons. The NSDD plan went the other way. On January 30, 1982, at a meeting of the working group, the Casey plan was adopted to deploy covert offensive operations against the USSR, under the heading top secret, it was called the "NSDD plan" (the Reagan administration's directive on the strategy, goals and aspirations of the United States in relations with the USSR). The NSDD plan clearly stated that the next US goal was no longer coexistence with the USSR, but to change the Soviet system. The whole working group recognized the necessary achievement of one goal - collapse of the USSR!

The essence of the NSDD plan for the collapse of the USSR was as follows:

1. Secret, financial, intelligence and political assistance to the Polish Solidarity movement. Purpose: to preserve the opposition in the center of the USSR.
2. Significant financial and military assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen. Purpose: the spread of war on the territory of the USSR.
3. Secret diplomacy in the countries of Western Europe. Purpose: to limit the access of the USSR to Western technologies.
4. Psychological and information warfare. Purpose: technical misinformation and the destruction of the economy of the USSR.
5. The growth of weapons and maintaining them at a high technological level. Purpose: undermining the economy of the USSR and exacerbating the crisis of resources.
6. Cooperation with Saudi Arabia to reduce world oil prices. Purpose: a sharp decrease in the receipt of hard currency in the USSR.

CIA Director W. Casey realized that it was useless to fight the USSR, the USSR could only be destroyed economically.

The preparatory stage for the collapse of the USSR

In early April 1981, CIA Director W. Casey traveled to the Middle East and Europe. Casey had to solve 2 problems: lower oil prices and increased resistance in Afghanistan. Therefore, Casey visited Egypt (a supplier of weapons for the Afghan Mujahideen). Here Casey told President Mohammed Anwar al-Sadat (a friend of the CIA) that the weapons that Egypt supplies to the Afghan Mujahideen are scrap! The USSR cannot be defeated with him, and he offered financial assistance in order to start deliveries of modern weapons. However, Sadat was not destined to follow the instructions of the CIA chief, because. 6 months later he was shot dead. But the United States still managed to supply the Afghan Mujahideen with weapons worth 8 billion dollars!!! So the Mujahideen got the first Stinger air defense system. This is the largest covert operation since World War II.

The CIA chief then visited Saudi Arabia. The analytical department of the CIA has calculated that if oil prices on the world market fall by only $1, then the USSR will lose from 500 million to 1 billion dollars a year. In return, Casey promised the sheikh protection from possible revolutions, protection for family members, the supply of weapons, guaranteed the inviolability of personal deposits in US banks. The sheikh agreed to the proposal, and Saudi oil production skyrocketed. So in 1986, the losses of the USSR from the fall in oil prices amounted to 13 billion dollars. Experts already realized then that Gorbachev would not be able to carry out any breakthrough and perestroika. Modernization required 50 billion dollars, and it was them that the NSDD plan took away from the USSR.
Casey also managed to persuade the sheikh of the secret participation of Saudi Arabia in the Afghan war and the strengthening of the Afghan Mujahideen by the Saudis. At the time, the modest owner of a construction company, Osama bin Laden (terrorist No. 1 in the world), was recruited with the money of the sheikh.

After Saudi Arabia, the CIA chief visited Israel. The first points have already begun to work, the next stage in the collapse of the USSR is an information and psychological war, without which the collapse of the USSR might not have been. As conceived by Casey, Israeli intelligence Mossad was to play a decisive role. Casey suggested that Israel use American spy satellites to obtain information about Iraq's nuclear facilities, as well as materials on Syria. In response, Israel opened part of its residency in the USSR to the CIA. Channels have been established.

The beginning of the implementation of the plan for the collapse of the USSR

The United States decided to carry out economic sabotage against Poland. One of the authors of this plan was Zbigniew Brzezinski. The meaning of this plan was that Western partners supplied enterprises to Poland, assuring that they would take the products produced at these enterprises in the form of payment, and after the launch of the enterprise they refused to take the products. Thus, the sale of products was slowed down, and the amount of Polish foreign currency debt climbed up. After this sabotage, Poland was heavily indebted, in Poland they began to introduce cards for goods (cards were even introduced for diapers and hygiene products). After that, workers' strikes began, the Poles wanted to eat. The burden of the Polish crisis fell on the economy of the USSR, Poland received financial assistance in the amount of 10 billion dollars, but Poland's debt remained at 12 billion dollars. Thus began a revolution in one of the socialist countries.

The US administration was sure that the revolutionary fire that had begun in one of the countries of the USSR would lead to destabilization throughout the USSR. The Kremlin leadership, in turn, understood where the wind of change was blowing from, intelligence reported that Polish revolutionaries were receiving financial assistance from Western countries (1.7 thousand newspapers and magazines were published underground, 10 thousand books and brochures were operating, underground printing houses were operating), on the radio " voice of America" ​​and "free Europe", Polish revolutionaries received covert orders about when and where to strike. Moscow repeatedly pointed out the outgoing danger from abroad and began to prepare for intervention. The CIA intelligence decided to oppose Moscow with the following trump card: Casey flies to Rome, where there was a key figure with influence on the Poles - it was the Pole Karol Jozef Wojtyla, after enthronement - John Paul II (primate of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005). The CIA remembered well how the Poles greeted John Paul II when he returned to his homeland. Then millions of excited Poles met their compatriot. After meeting with Casey, he begins to actively support the Polish resistance and personally met with resistance leader Lech Walesa. The Catholic Church begins to financially support the resistance (distributes humanitarian aid received from Western charitable foundations), provides shelter for the opposition.

Report of the CIA director on the collapse of the USSR

In February 1982, at a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, the director of the CIA again reported on the work done. The loss of tens of millions of dollars, the tense situation in Poland, the protracted war in Afghanistan, the instability in the socialist camp, all this led to the fact that the treasury of the USSR was empty. Casey also said that the USSR is trying to replenish the treasury with Siberian gas supplied to Europe - this is the Urengoy-6 project. This project was supposed to give the USSR colossal funds. In addition, Europe was strongly interested in the construction of this gas pipeline.

Disruption of the Urengoy-6 project as one of the reasons for the collapse of the USSR

From Siberia to the borders of Czechoslovakia, the gas pipeline was supposed to be laid by the Soviet Union, but imported pipes were required for laying. It was then that the US administration imposed a ban on the supply of oil equipment to the USSR. But Europe, which was interested in gas, and which, by agreement with the USSR, had a significant 25-year discount on gas, secretly (the government secretly supported smuggling suppliers) continued to supply the necessary equipment for the USSR. The US administration sent a man to Europe who campaigned in Europe for American coal, natural gas from the North Sea, and also for synthetic fuels. But Europe, feeling the benefits of cooperation with the USSR, continued to secretly help the USSR build a gas pipeline. Then Reagan again instructed the CIA to deal with this problem. In 1982, the CIA developed an operation according to which gas equipment was supplied to the USSR through a long chain of intermediaries, the software of which was deliberately bugged. These bugs were exploited after installation, resulting in large explosions on highways. As a result of these sabotage, Urengoy-6 was never completed, and the USSR again suffered losses in the amount of 1 trillion. dollars. This was one of the reasons for the bankruptcy and collapse of the USSR.

Another covert operation to destroy the USSR

On March 23, 1983, Reagan proposed deploying a system that was supposed to destroy enemy nuclear missiles in space. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or "Star Wars" was about creating a large-scale space-based missile defense system. According to this program, the United States was supposed to launch satellites with laser weapons into geostationary orbits, which would constantly be located above the base of nuclear missiles and could shoot them down at the time of their launch. The US administration, with the help of this program, intimidated the USSR and continued to drain the economy of the USSR. The United States was told that one day all Soviet missiles would become a pile of unnecessary metal. Soviet scientists began to study SDI and came to the conclusion that powerful energy pumping was needed for the operation of laser weapons, and in order to hit a flying rocket, the diameter of the laser beam should be the size of a pinhead, and according to scientists, the diameter of the laser beam from the rocket turned into a circle of light with a diameter of 100 sq. meters. Scientists argued that SDI is a bluff! But the Soviet Union continued to devote too much time and effort to SDI, while the United States acted from a position of strength in negotiations on missile defense with the USSR.

Gorbachev also tried to somehow raise the economy of the USSR, he counted on high oil prices, but oil prices fell from 35 to 10 dollars per barrel. Instead of improvement, Soviet citizens felt worse, store shelves became empty, and soon, as during the Second World War, cards appeared. The collapse of the USSR entered its final stage.

Date of the collapse of the USSR

Date of the collapse of the USSR December 26, 1991. As a result the collapse of the USSR the territory of Russia has decreased in comparison with the territory of the USSR by 24%, and the population has decreased by 49%. The unified armed forces and the single currency fell apart, and interethnic conflicts sharply escalated.

Everything changed on December 8, 1991, after the announcement of three (President RSFSR – B. Yeltsin, President of Ukraine - L. Kravchuk, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus - S. Shushkevich) formation of independent states . A Commonwealth of Independent Countries was formed.

This is how an event occurred that can be compared with a natural disaster, but which, in terms of its consequences, was much more tragic. On December 9, 1991, we woke up in another country, and not many people still know what kind of country it is. Faults were not only on the ground, but also on the fate of the nation and peoples, each separated country had to survive alone, and Russia too. Because the Soviet Union lived and developed as a single organism, the separated parts carried away objects vital for the country.

Baltic States ( Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) moved the most modern ports, nuclear power plant, many high-tech industries.
Became independent Ukraine And Moldova and the well-established economic ties that united coal, industrial, metallurgical, transport and food systems were broken for centuries.
Remained abroad traditional places of rest in Crimea And Transcaucasia(Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan).
The pride of the Soviet Union - the Baikonur cosmodrome began to belong to Kazakhstan.
Cotton plantations and deposits of strategic raw materials gained independence in Central Asia ( Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan), but at the same time, all the borders of the country were wide open.

Modern Russia has moved east and north. We got a terrain unsuitable for farming, multiplied by impressive distances and a harsh climate. The regions of the far north occupy more than 2/3 of the territory of our country. Yes, they say we got fantastic natural resources, but they are located in hard-to-reach, sparsely populated and completely undeveloped regions of the Arctic, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, in the so-called global refrigerator.

We will cope with the global refrigerator, but along the perimeter of the Russian borders, many hotbeds of tension have arisen, it is so natural, any state is trying to improve, increase its territory and power at the expense of a weakened country.
For example, Norway not averse to joining a piece of the Arctic, how many oil and gas rigs can be put there? How many fish to catch? And the Russian fleet can be locked up in rocky bays so as not to interfere.
Finns- the people are peaceful and cautious, but they are absolutely sure that Karelia would have been disposed of with great sense.
European Union inspired by Germany - without the Kaliningrad region feels incomplete.
Along the southern border of our State ( Georgia), a Fickford cord is laid, which flares up at the command of the directors of world politics. The technology is interesting, first the former Soviet Republic declares its neutrality, demands the withdrawal of Russian troops and military bases, then conducts exercises with peacekeepers from NATO and, forgetting about neutrality, opens the door for the "masters of the new world order." It's no secret that with the collapse of the USSR, the republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as Central Asia, the United States declared a zone of its national interests. It seems that the so-called Islamic threat is designed specifically for the "New Russia"
China: When 2 billion people suffocate in the space they occupy, they involuntarily look for where they will splash out.
Japan: the Japanese, with their characteristic pedantry, decide to transfer 4 Kuril Islands to them, having in the future the large Kuriles and Sakhalin.
Once upon a time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, the generous Georgian Shevardnadze, gave his American friends a royal gift - the richest section of the Bering Sea.
Finally "global community" in general, it is considering the option of Russia's refusal from the Arctic sector, and its transfer to international control.
According to the apt expression of D. Mendeleev: Russia lies between the hammer of Europe and the anvil of Asia.

Along the perimeter of our borders, so-called cordon sanitaires are being formed.

According to the idea of ​​creating buffer states, Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states, Western strategists have been assigned the role of this very buffer, for which they are united in the “Baltic sanitary belt”, by the way, not for the first time in history.

In matters of global, geopolitical strategy, the initiative belongs to the United States. The American administration clearly sets goals and clearly achieves their implementation.

What are the interests of our motherland?

Why does Russia need the Kuriles? Think of some rocks in the ocean! Let's figure it out. It doesn’t matter at all who discovered the islands, the important thing is that the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freezes in winter, so much so that if at least one island goes to Japan, from October to April the Pacific navy will be closed in the bays of the Far East. And the fish resources of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, we will buy from the Japanese, the issue price is 2.5 billion rubles. dollars a year.

Amber region provides Russia with its presence in the Baltic. For access to this sea, we fought for many centuries. From the west, our country is surrounded by the NATO military bloc, and former compatriots (Ukraine and the Baltic States) would like to represent its interests.

IN Kaliningrad region our last trading and technological showcase in the western world, if the western gates of Russia are closed, then our European friends will immediately lower a new iron curtain in front of us.

North: Why do we need such uncomfortable spaces? People who thought about the future of Russia, the Arctic coast called it a seaside settlement. Here are our battle lines (missile shield, submarine fleet), our pantries (oil, gas, gold, diamonds). In the 20th century, it was we Russians who built the North Sea Route - the shortest road between Asia and Europe. A transpolar air bridge also lies across the Arctic - a promising road between America and Asia. This is probably why the world community decided that it would breathe life into these lifeless spaces on its own.

If this happens, Russia will slowly die in armed conflicts in its backyard on the borders with China, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Geography, the most fundamental factor in the life of our State, is the most constant. Rulers come and go, but the territory remains, and it must be preserved.
I would like to believe that a good relationship between States develops thanks to the friendly feelings of their leaders, but all 5 thousand years of the history of international relations do not confirm such a belief.

“We especially need well-educated people who know Russian nature intimately,
all of our reality, so that we can make independent,
not imitative steps in the development of their country.
D. I. Mendeleev