Twenty years ago, on December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union, declaring the office extinct and dissolving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a massive communist empire that had existed since 1922. The USSR had been in a long economic stagnation when Gorbachev came to power in 1985. In order to bring about change, he introduced several reforms, including perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Glasnost opened the floodgates of protest and many republics made moves toward independence, threatening the continued existence of the USSR. In August of 1991, a group of Communist Party hardliners frustrated by the separatist movement attempted to stage a coup. They quickly failed due to a massive show of civil resistance -- but the already-faltering government was destabilized even further by the attempt. By December of 1991, 16 Soviet republics had declared their independence, and Gorbachev handed over power to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, ending the USSR. Collected here are photos from those tumultuous months 20 years ago. Bonus: Memories of photojournalist Alain-Pierre Hovasse, first-hand witness to these events, are collected at the end of this entry. [43 photos]
A woman reaches into her bag, which rests on a fallen Soviet hammer-and-sickle on a Moscow street in 1991. December 25, 2011 will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
- Alain-Pierre Hovasse
- Boris Yeltsin
- Boris Yeltsin
- Communism
- Communist Party
- Eastern bloc
- Economy of the Soviet Union
- Glasnost
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Perestroika
- Politics
- Republics of the Soviet Union
- Russia
- Soviet phraseology
- Soviet Union
- Soviet Union
- Transparency
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Associated Press
- Berlin
- Boris Yeltsin
- Boris Yeltsin
- Canada
- Communism
- Gary Kemper
- Genady Galperyn
- Gennady Yanayev
- Gennady Yanayev
- Georgia
- Grigory Dukor
- International Herald Tribune
- Lithuania
- Michael Samojeden
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Moscow
- Moscow
- Moscow
- Peter Andrews
- photography
- Poland
- Polish Solidarity
- Politics
- Reuters
- Reuters Photographers
- Russia
- Sean Ramsey
- Soviet
- Soviet
- Soviet Union
- Soviet Union
- The International Herald Tribune
- Viktor Korotayev
- Vilnius
- Warsaw
- White House
- Yeltsin
The melting fuel rods and radiation leaks at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are having a direct impact on how nuclear energy is perceived. Many are thinking back to the disasters at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island even while the disaster in Japan presents scenarios never before thought out. The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear [...]
- ADALBERTO ROQUE
- Alla Kozimierka
- Andriy Shauman
- atomic energy
- Belarus
- Boris Yurchenko
- cement sarcophagus
- Chernobyl
- Chernobyl
- Chernobyl disaster
- Cuba
- Daniel Berehulak
- Disaster
- Efrem Lukatsky
- Egypt
- energy
- energy block
- Environment
- Europe
- Frank Rumpenhorst
- Frankfurt/Main
- gas mask
- gas masks
- Germany
- Getty Images
- Hesse
- In Focus
- Japan
- Kiev
- Kurt Strumpf
- media tour
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Minsk
- New Safe Confinement
- nuclear energy
- nuclear site
- Nuclear technology
- Oxana
- Peter Meyer
- Pripyat
- Prypiat, Ukraine
- Prypyat
- quarter
- radiation
- Raisa Gorbacheva
- Red Cross
- Red Forest
- Russian
- sealed metal lid
- SERGEI SUPINSKY
- Soviet Union
- Soviet Union
- Sweden
- Tarara Children Hospital in Havana
- Three Mile Island
- Ukraine
- Ukraine
- Ukraine Emergencies Ministry
- Ukranian adolescents
- VIKTOR DRACHEV
- Volodymyr Repik
- whay powder
- Wiesbaden
- Yuri Kozyrev
- Zone of alienation