On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania voted for the republic's secession from the Soviet Union, proclaimed its independence and abolished the all-Union Constitution on the territory of the republic. On March 17, the elections to the Supreme Councils of Latvia and Estonia were won by supporters of the Popular Fronts, who went to the polls with slogans declaring the independence of the republics. “The voluntary entry” of these countries into the USSR in 1940 was declared illegal. The USSR Council of Ministers immediately responded by adopting economic sanctions against Lithuania, which forced the republic to temporarily abandon the declaration of independence in exchange for the lifting of the economic blockade.
On June 12, 1990, the 1st Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR proclaimed the sovereignty of Russia, which meant the supremacy of republican laws over all-Union laws. A chain reaction of the “parade of sovereignties” began in the republics. By the end of the summer, sovereignty was proclaimed in Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Tajikistan. In October, Kazakhstan adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty, and in December, Kyrgyzstan declared sovereignty.
On November 30, 1990, the image of a double-headed eagle was approved as the State Emblem of the Russian Federation. On June 12, 1991, the RSFSR held its first national presidential elections. Already in the first round, Yeltsin won, receiving 57.3 percent of the vote.
All these turbulent political events took place against the backdrop of a constantly deteriorating economic situation and an ever-increasing shortage of goods: empty store shelves and huge queues became an expressive sign of the times. The authorities tried unsuccessfully to stabilize the situation. In 1990, productivity coupons were introduced, which actually became surrogates for cards, but this did not help. On January 22, 1991, in an effort to restore state control over financial flows, the government abolished the circulation of USSR State Bank banknotes in denominations of 50 and 100 rubles in the country and limited the issuance of money with citizens' deposits in savings banks. This unpopular measure angered millions of people. On April 2, 1991, retail prices for consumer goods and transport were increased. However, even a threefold increase in prices could not stabilize the ruble. The country was overwhelmed by galloping information: by the end, the real purchasing power of 1 ruble of the 1961 model was no more than 1 kopeck.
On April 23, 1991, Gorbachev and the leaders of the union republics of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, who gathered at the government residence Novo-Ogaryovo, adopted a “Joint Statement on Urgent Measures to Stabilize the Situation in the Country and Overcome the Crisis.” This document provided for the conclusion of a new union treaty, the adoption of a new union constitution and the subsequent holding of elections to the union authorities. Despite the fact that the document was not signed by the leaders of the Baltic republics, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova, President Gorbachev expressed confidence that the USSR would retain its status as a great power, but differently structured. On June 17, the draft of a new union treaty was agreed upon by Gorbachev and the leaders of nine republics. The treaty guaranteed the sovereign republics jurisdiction over socio-economic life, they received the opportunity to conduct foreign policy activities if these activities did not violate the international obligations of the USSR. The state was renamed the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. However, the issue of the procedure for paying taxes to the union budget was not resolved and the problem of the relationship between the statuses of the union and autonomous republics was not overcome. The signing of the agreement was scheduled for August 20.
On Monday, August 19, 1991, the media reported the creation of the State Emergency Committee (GKChP) in the country, which assumed full power. Gorbachev, who was vacationing in Foros (Crimea), had his communications cut off, and he himself was actually removed from power. Troops and armored vehicles were brought into Moscow. The country regarded the actions of the State Emergency Committee as a coup d'etat. Tens of thousands of Muscovites took to the streets. The demonstrations took place on Manezhnaya Square and between the House of Soviets of the RSFSR and the White House. President of the RSFSR Yeltsin actually led the speech of the residents of the capital, called on the population to resist the coup attempt and read out an appeal “To the Citizens of Russia”: all decisions of the State Emergency Committee were outlawed. They began erecting barricades near the White Lom building. A tricolor flag was raised above the barricades. The leaders of the State Emergency Committee did not dare to give the order to storm the White House and on August 21 announced the withdrawal of troops. By the end of the day, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee were arrested. Muscovites filled the city center and demolished the monument to Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square. The next day Gorbachev returned to Moscow.
On August 22, by Decree of the President of the RSFSR Yeltsin, the tricolor panel was approved as the State Flag of the Russian Federation. On August 23, Yeltsin signed a decree on the transfer of enterprises of union subordination located on the territory of the republic to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. This ensured the economic basis of the country's sovereignty. On the same day, Yeltsin announced the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party in Russia. On November 6, by presidential decree, the activities of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR were terminated, and their organizational structures were dissolved. The failure of the coup became a powerful catalyst for centripetal tendencies. Local power began to pass to republican leaders, and the republics began to declare their independence one after another.
On September 6, at a meeting of the State Council (the highest governing body of the country), a decision was made to recognize the independence of the Baltic republics, proclaimed by Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia back in 1990. On December 1, presidential elections and a referendum on independence were held in Ukraine: 90.32 percent of voters voted for independence. Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk announced Ukraine's denunciation of the 1922 treaty on the creation of the USSR. On Sunday, December 8, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, gathered in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus), signed an agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 21, the leaders of 11 sovereign states met in Almaty and signed the CIS Declaration. The leaders of the Baltic countries and Georgia were not present at the meeting. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that the USSR no longer exists. On December 25, Gorbachev resigned from the post of President of the USSR. At 19:30 the USSR state flag was lowered over the Kremlin and the Russian tricolor was raised.
The muse of history, Clio, has turned another page in her book. The history of democratic Russia began with a clean slate. Ahead were disappointments and disasters, the threat of the collapse of the country and the danger of new unrest, the bitterness of defeat and the happiness of victory. What lay ahead was Russia's return to great power status. There were new pages of great history ahead.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, addressing Emperor Alexander I in his “Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations,” wrote on the eve of Napoleon’s invasion of the Russian Empire: “Powers, like people, have a certain age of their own: this is how philosophy thinks, this is how history says. A prudent system in life continues the age of man; a prudent state system continues the age of the state; who will count the coming summers of Russia? I hear the prophets of near disaster, but, thanks to the Almighty, my heart does not believe them - I see danger, but I do not yet see destruction!
Events in the USSR in the late 80s and early 90s of the last century gave the world the concept of a “parade of sovereignties.” It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this process, which became the main driving force behind the collapse of the Soviet Union. How did the “parade of sovereignties” take place? The causes and consequences of this phenomenon will be discussed below.
Origin of the term
The term “parade of sovereignties” itself appeared with the light hand of People’s Deputy of the RSFSR Pyotr Zerin. It was he who first used this expression at the end of 1990 at the Congress of Deputies in order to characterize the process that took place in the country in connection with the declaration of state independence by ten republics. Then Peter Zerin spoke sharply negatively about these trends, predicting, as a consequence of them, war, increased separatism, and the onset of chaos in the legal field.
But from that moment on, the concept of “parade of sovereignties” became firmly entrenched in the political lexicon. Another popular name for this same process was the “war of laws,” that is, the “war” of republican legislation with the all-Union legislation.
Background to the Parade of Sovereignties
In the second half of the 80s of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was experiencing an acute economic and political crisis, which was aggravated by falling prices for petroleum products, the war in Afghanistan and a general collapse in the administrative command system.
In 1985, the leader of a new formation, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the USSR. He tried to bring the state out of the crisis through fairly radical reforms. These reforms involved the introduction of elements of a market economy, openness, and party pluralism. This course began to be actively conducted from the beginning of 1987 and even received its name - Perestroika.
But, as life has shown, some of these reforms were too half-hearted and insufficient to fundamentally solve the problem, while others were too radical for Soviet society of that time. As a result, all this led to an even deeper deepening of the systemic crisis in the country. In addition to problems in the economy and in the administrative apparatus, centrifugal tendencies and local separatism began to grow in the regions, which in the future resulted in interethnic conflicts and a “parade of sovereignties” in the USSR.
Causes
The root cause that caused the “parade of sovereignties” was the systemic crisis in the Soviet Union, leading to the fact that the government was unable to properly ensure the preservation of the integrity of the state and the priority throughout its territory of all-Union laws. In addition, the policy of glasnost, that is, the permission to freely express one’s opinion on the political situation, which had never happened before in the USSR, led to the fact that interethnic contradictions, which until then, due to strict administrative control, came to life with renewed vigor. were in a frozen state.
In addition, “economic separatism” began to appear, that is, the reluctance of industrialized regions to share their income with less developed parts of the state. This led to regional authorities demanding economic autonomy, or even complete independence.
The beginning of the "parade"
The beginning of the “parade of sovereignties” is usually associated with the proclamation in November 1988 of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Estonian USSR, which emphasized the priority of intra-republican laws over all-Union ones. In addition, it stated the demand for a revision of Estonia's status within the Soviet Union. At that time, this did not cause too wide resonance in the country, since there were many other events that excited the public. And yet, it was this declaration that marked the beginning of the process that is commonly called the “parade of sovereignties” in the USSR.
Further development of the “parade of sovereignties”
Throughout 1989, two other Baltic republics - the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR, as well as the Azerbaijan SSR - declared their sovereignty and the primacy of republican legislation over the all-Union legislation.
The first territorial entity that announced its secession from the largest state in the world was the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This happened in January 1990, after the bloody dispersal of protesters in Baku by security forces. However, this declaration of independence did not receive any real implementation.
The “parade of sovereignties” in the Baltic states was much more successful. In March 1990, the Lithuanian SSR announced its secession from the Soviet Union. In May, a similar procedure was repeated by the governments of the Estonian SSR and the Latvian SSR, and in August - by the Armenian SSR. In May 1991, the Georgian SSR announced its acceptance of independence to the world.
All other republics declared their sovereignty, that is, the priority of republican legislation over all-Union legislation. At the same time, they maintained their membership in the USSR and did not yet proclaim their full independence.
The attempt to revive the Soviet Union was associated with the holding of an all-Union referendum, which raised the question of preserving the USSR in a modified form. Then the majority of citizens spoke in favor of preserving the Union, which made it possible to temporarily delay the collapse of the state.
Events after the coup
After the August putsch, the republics began to proclaim their independence on a massive scale. Already on August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian SSR did this. Then came the declaration of independence of the remaining subjects of the USSR. The last to carry out this procedure was the Kazakh SSR (December 16, 1991). The only republics that did not declare secession from the Soviet Union until its final collapse were the RSFSR and the Belarusian SSR, although they declared their sovereignty back in 1990.
Final collapse of the USSR
This is how the “parade of sovereignties” proceeded. The collapse of the USSR was its natural consequence. In fact, the end to the future of the country of the Soviets was put at the end of 1991 at a meeting of the top officials of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Then agreements were developed on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of an international association - the Union of Independent States. Later, leaders of other republics also joined this agreement.
Legally, the Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 26, 1991, when the Supreme Council dissolved itself, and the day before that, the country's President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned.
Consequences of the “parade of sovereignties”
The “Parade of Sovereignties” was the main driving force that led to the collapse of the USSR. Although the root causes of this phenomenon lay much deeper and were associated with the economic and managerial collapse that reigned in the Soviet Union at that time.
The consequence of the “parade of sovereignties” was the formation of fifteen new states - former Soviet republics. In addition, this process has radically changed the geopolitical situation in the world. One of the two superpowers did not become, which turned world politics from bipolar to unipolar.
The newly formed powers had to build their own national states based on the emerging political realities. This was not easy anywhere, but in some countries everything went more or less smoothly and without mass bloodshed. In others, wars and armed conflicts still do not subside as a consequence of the “parade of sovereignties” and the collapse of the USSR.
- “Parade of Sovereignties” (1988-1991) is the name of the conflict between the union center and the union republics, caused by the proclamation of the supremacy of republican laws over union laws in violation of the Constitution of the USSR (Article 74) and which became one of the key factors leading to the collapse of the USSR.
During the “parade of sovereignties,” all union (including the RSFSR) and many of the autonomous republics adopted Declarations of Sovereignty, in which they challenged the priority of all-Union legislation over republican legislation (which began the so-called “war of laws”), and took actions to strengthen economic independence, including refusal to pay taxes to the union and federal budgets. This led to the cessation of economic ties between the republics and regions, which further worsened the economic situation of the USSR.
The first territory to declare its independence in January 1990 in response to the Baku events was the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Before the August putsch of the State Emergency Committee, five union republics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Georgia) unilaterally declared their independence, only one (Moldova) refused to join the proposed new union (USG) and transition to independence. At the same time, the autonomous entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which were part of Georgia, as well as the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic and Gagauzia, proclaimed on part of the territory of Moldova, announced non-recognition of the independence of Georgia and Moldova, respectively, and their desire to remain part of the Union.
With the exception of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan was the most recent of all the republics of the USSR to declare independence), none of the Central Asian union republics had organized movements or parties that aimed to achieve independence. Among the Muslim republics, with the exception of the Azerbaijani Popular Front, the independence movement existed only in one of the autonomous republics of the Volga region - the Ittifak party of Fauzia Bayramova in Tatarstan, which since 1989 has advocated the independence of Tatarstan.
Based on the new reality, in December 1990, USSR President M.S. Gorbachev, who was trying to stop the disintegration of the USSR, proposed a draft of an updated Union Treaty. He was supported by the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. As part of the so-called Novoogaryov process, in the spring and summer of 1991, a working group developed a project to conclude a new union - the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics as a soft, decentralized federation. The signing of a new union treaty, scheduled for August 20, was thwarted by the August putsch of the State Emergency Committee and an attempt to remove M. S. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR, immediately after which almost all the remaining union republics, as well as several autonomous entities (within Russia, Georgia) declared independence , Moldova).
After the failure of the State Emergency Committee, work on a new Union Treaty continued, but now we were talking about the creation of a Union of Sovereign States as a confederation. Meanwhile, Gorbachev, who returned to the capital from Foros virtually thanks to the decisive position of the Russian leadership, began to finally lose the levers of control, which gradually went to the President of the RSFSR B. N. Yeltsin and the heads of other union republics.
On November 14, the heads of seven of the twelve union republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev made a statement of intention to conclude an agreement on the creation of the GCC. The signing of the agreement was scheduled for December 9, but the day before On December 8, the heads of the three founding republics of the USSR (RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus) signed the Belovezhskaya Agreement on its dissolution and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States as an interstate organization, which was joined by eight more republics on December 21 in Almaty.
Some of the states that declared independence after the collapse of the USSR were not recognized by the international community. After 2008, Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved partial international recognition. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic continue to remain unrecognized
Parade of sovereignties
The process of collapse of the USSR began with the beginning of the process of collapse of the CPSU. In 1989, the Lithuanian Communist Party left the CPSU. During these same years, from May 1988 to January 1991, declarations of independence or sovereignty were adopted in all union and autonomous republics. But the Baltics went further. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania adopted the Act on the Restoration of State Independence. Soon, on June 12, 1990, at the First Congress of the People. dep. The RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. Bilateral treaties were concluded with the Baltic republics. Soon, four days later, the same Declaration was adopted by Ukraine. In October 1990, Yeltsin announced the non-subordination of the RSFSR to the allied authorities and the beginning of his own course of reforms. This decision was enshrined in law.
Soon, similar Declarations were adopted in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR (Yakutia, TASSR, Chechnya, Bashkiria).
Novo-Ogarevsky process
- On June 24, a draft of a new union treaty was published. However, the Baltic republics refused to discuss it. The western regions of Ukraine and Moldova expressed a negative attitude towards the agreement. Similar sentiments reign in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia.
- On March 17, at a referendum on the existence of the USSR, support was expressed for the union state (76%). On April 24, a preliminary agreement “9+1” was signed in Novo-Ogaryovo. The signing of the new union treaty was scheduled for August 21. The new state was to become a confederation. Gorbachev was to become the new President, Nazarbayev was to become Prime Minister.
On the eve of the signing of the agreement, M.S. Gorbachev went on state vacation. Foros dacha in Crimea.
COLLAPSE OF THE USSR
On August 19, 1991, at 6 o’clock in the morning, the creation of the State Emergency Committee was announced. Vice-President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev announced the temporary assumption of the functions of head of state. This was explained by the illness of M.S. Gorbachev.
The Commission included Prime Minister V.S. Pavlov, min. Defense Marshal of the USSR D.T. Yazov, Chairman KGB V.A. Kryuchkov, min. ext. cases B.K. Pugo and others. The circumstances of the creation of the State Emergency Committee are poorly understood. Probably, all parties to this process were interested in this, both those who joined the Commission and those who were temporarily removed from power. The actions of the Commission were in accordance with the plan approved by M.S. Gorbachev back in the spring of 1991. At a meeting in Foros between the members of the Commission and the President of the USSR, Gorbachev did not oppose the measures of the State Emergency Committee, did not remove them from power and even shook their hands.
The members of the Commission motivated their actions by the inconsistency of the future treaty with the norms of the USSR Constitution, the danger of disrupting the events planned for August 21 (Ukraine, for example, hesitated), and the desire to prevent the collapse of the USSR. However, the Commission's actions were poorly coordinated. Troops were brought into Moscow, but they were not given clear orders, the reason for their presence was not explained, and they were not given ammunition. At the same time, the Armed Forces of the RSFSR began to reassign the army, but no one opposed this. The senior command staff and commanders of military units began to change their oath, recognizing B.N. Yeltsin as commander in chief. The supplies and activities of the government of the RSFSR continued. The commission mobilized the army, but did not dare to introduce into Moscow units loyal to the oath and formations based on military schools that supported the State Emergency Committee. Mass rallies began in Moscow and Leningrad. Barricades were spontaneously built. Free food, alcohol, and water were brought into improvised gathering places for opposition youth and townspeople.
On August 20, B.N. Yeltsin issued a Decree banning the activities of the CPSU. The Plenum scheduled for August 20-21 never took place.
By August 21, the opposition took the initiative into their own hands. On the night of 21–22, the President of the USSR returned to Moscow. On August 23, at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, M.S. Gorbachev confirmed the legality of all the Decrees of B.N. Yeltsin.
By August 26, all members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested, and the party buildings were taken away. Mirshal Akhromeev, manager. affairs of the CPSU Central Committee Kruchin, min. ext. Del Pugo committed suicide. Yazov refused pardon and sought a trial. The court recognized the actions of the members of the State Emergency Committee as legal, and justified the actions of the members of the State Emergency Committee.
On September 2, M.S. Gorbachev announced the preparation of a new union treaty designed to create a Union of Sovereign States on a confederal basis. On these same days, the last Congress of the People took place. deputies of the USSR. A program for a new state system for the transition period was adopted and the State Council was created.
The first decision of the State. The Council recognized the independence of the Baltic republics. In August-September, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Turkmenistan declared independence. And on November 25, members of the State Council refused to sign the agreement written with their participation.
On December 1, Ukraine declared its complete independence, and 2 days later it was recognized by the RSFSR as an independent state. And already on December 8, in conditions of secrecy at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha dacha, the collapse of the USSR was recognized and an agreement on the creation of the CIS was signed. Within a few days, despite the statement of M.S. Gorbachev, the decisions of the Belovezhskaya Agreement were ratified by the Supreme Council of the republics. For some time Nazarbayev spoke out against the collapse of the USSR. On December 25, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation as President of the USSR. B.N. Yeltsin terminated the powers of deputies of the USSR Supreme Council, and the Russian flag was raised over the Kremlin.
The collapse of the Soviet system occurred later, in 1993, during the confrontation between the President of Russia and the Armed Forces of the RSFSR. The court found B.N. Yeltsin's actions illegal. However, the President won the political confrontation. The new constitution of the RSFSR created new authorities, completely eliminating the Soviet form of democracy.
Events in the USSR in the late 80s and early 90s of the last century gave the world the concept of a “parade of sovereignties.” It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this process, which became the main driving force behind the collapse of the Soviet Union. How did the “parade of sovereignties” take place? The causes and consequences of this phenomenon will be discussed below.
Origin of the term
The term “parade of sovereignties” itself appeared with the light hand of People’s Deputy of the RSFSR Pyotr Zerin. It was he who first used this expression at the end of 1990 at the Congress of Deputies in order to characterize the process that took place in the country in connection with the declaration of state independence by ten republics. Then Peter Zerin spoke sharply negatively about these trends, predicting, as a consequence of them, war, increased separatism, and the onset of chaos in the legal field.
But from that moment on, the concept of “parade of sovereignties” became firmly entrenched in the political lexicon. Another popular name for this same process was the “war of laws,” that is, the “war” of republican legislation with the all-Union legislation.
Background to the Parade of Sovereignties
In the second half of the 80s of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was experiencing an acute economic and political crisis, which was aggravated by falling prices for petroleum products, the war in Afghanistan and a general collapse in the administrative command system.
In 1985, the leader of a new formation, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the USSR. He tried to bring the state out of the crisis through fairly radical reforms. These reforms involved the introduction of elements of a market economy, openness, and party pluralism. This course began to be actively conducted from the beginning of 1987 and even received its name - Perestroika.
But, as life has shown, some of these reforms were too half-hearted and insufficient to fundamentally solve the problem, while others were too radical for Soviet society of that time. As a result, all this led to an even deeper deepening of the systemic crisis in the country. In addition to problems in the economy and in the administrative apparatus, centrifugal tendencies and local separatism began to grow in the regions, which in the future resulted in interethnic conflicts and a “parade of sovereignties” in the USSR.
Causes
The root cause that caused the “parade of sovereignties” was the systemic crisis in the Soviet Union, leading to the fact that the government was unable to properly ensure the preservation of the integrity of the state and the priority throughout its territory of all-Union laws. In addition, the policy of glasnost, that is, the permission to freely express one’s opinion on the political situation, which had never happened before in the USSR, led to the fact that interethnic contradictions, which until then, due to strict administrative control, came to life with renewed vigor. were in a frozen state.
In addition, “economic separatism” began to appear, that is, the reluctance of industrialized regions to share their income with less developed parts of the state. This led to regional authorities demanding economic autonomy, or even complete independence.
The beginning of the "parade"
The beginning of the “parade of sovereignties” is usually associated with the proclamation in November 1988 of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Estonian USSR, which emphasized the priority of intra-republican laws over all-Union ones. In addition, it stated the demand for a revision of Estonia's status within the Soviet Union. At that time, this did not cause too wide resonance in the country, since there were many other events that excited the public. And yet, it was this declaration that marked the beginning of the process that is commonly called the “parade of sovereignties” in the USSR.
Further development of the “parade of sovereignties”
Throughout 1989, two other Baltic republics - the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR, as well as the Azerbaijan SSR - declared their sovereignty and the primacy of republican legislation over the all-Union legislation.
The first territorial entity that announced its secession from the largest state in the world was the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This happened in January 1990, after the bloody dispersal of protesters in Baku by security forces. However, this declaration of independence did not receive any real implementation.
The “parade of sovereignties” in the Baltic states was much more successful. In March 1990, the Lithuanian SSR announced its secession from the Soviet Union. In May, a similar procedure was repeated by the governments of the Estonian SSR and the Latvian SSR, and in August - by the Armenian SSR. In May 1991, the Georgian SSR announced its acceptance of independence to the world.
All other republics declared their sovereignty, that is, the priority of republican legislation over all-Union legislation. At the same time, they maintained their membership in the USSR and did not yet proclaim their full independence.
The attempt to revive the Soviet Union was associated with the holding of an all-Union referendum, which raised the question of preserving the USSR in a modified form. Then the majority of citizens spoke in favor of preserving the Union, which made it possible to temporarily delay the collapse of the state.
Events after the coup
After the August putsch, the republics began to proclaim their independence on a massive scale. Already on August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian SSR did this. Then came the declaration of independence of the remaining subjects of the USSR. The last to carry out this procedure was the Kazakh SSR (December 16, 1991). The only republics that did not declare secession from the Soviet Union until its final collapse were the RSFSR and the Belarusian SSR, although they declared their sovereignty back in 1990.
Final collapse of the USSR
This is how the “parade of sovereignties” proceeded. The collapse of the USSR was its natural consequence. In fact, the end to the future of the country of the Soviets was put at the end of 1991 at a meeting of the top officials of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Then agreements were developed on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of an international association - the Union of Independent States. Later, leaders of other republics also joined this agreement.
Legally, the Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 26, 1991, when the Supreme Council dissolved itself, and the day before that, the country's President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned.
Consequences of the “parade of sovereignties”
The “Parade of Sovereignties” was the main driving force that led to the collapse of the USSR. Although the root causes of this phenomenon lay much deeper and were associated with the economic and managerial collapse that reigned in the Soviet Union at that time.
The consequence of the “parade of sovereignties” was the formation of fifteen new states - former Soviet republics. In addition, this process has radically changed the geopolitical situation in the world. One of the two superpowers did not become, which turned world politics from bipolar to unipolar.
The newly formed powers had to build their own national states based on the emerging political realities. This was not easy anywhere, but in some countries everything went more or less smoothly and without mass bloodshed. In others, wars and armed conflicts still do not subside as a consequence of the “parade of sovereignties” and the collapse of the USSR.