There was a collapse of the union and then the emergence. The collapse of the USSR: causes, prerequisites, consequences. What was really good about the USSR

Chronologically, the events of December 1991 developed as follows. The heads of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine - then still Soviet republics - gathered for a historic meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, more precisely, in the village of Viskuli. On December 8 they signed an Agreement on the Establishment Commonwealth of Independent States(CIS). With this document they recognized that the USSR no longer exists. In fact, the Belovezhskaya Accords did not destroy the USSR, but documented the already existing situation.

On December 21, a meeting of presidents was held in the Kazakh capital Alma-Ata, at which 8 more republics joined the CIS: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. The document signed there is known as the Almaty Agreement. Thus, the new commonwealth included all the former Soviet republics except the Baltic ones.

President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev did not accept the situation, but his political position after the 1991 coup was very weak. He had no choice, and on December 25, Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities as President of the USSR. He signed a decree resigning as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces, handing over the reins to the President of the Russian Federation.

On December 26, the session of the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted declaration No. 142-N on the termination of the existence of the USSR. During these decisions and the signing of documents on December 25-26, the authorities of the USSR ceased to be subjects of international law. Membership continuator USSR Russia has become a member of international institutions. She assumed the debts and assets of the Soviet Union, and also declared herself the owner of all property of the former union state located outside the former USSR.

Modern political scientists name many versions, or rather points of the general situation, for which the collapse of the once powerful state occurred. Frequently cited reasons can be combined into the following list.

1. The authoritarian nature of Soviet society. To this point we include persecution of the church, persecution of dissidents, forced collectivism. Sociologists define: collectivism is the willingness to sacrifice personal good for the sake of the common good. A good thing sometimes. But elevated to a norm, a standard, it neutralizes individuality and blurs the personality. Hence - a cog in society, sheep in the herd. Depersonalization weighed heavily on educated people.

2. Dominance of one ideology. To maintain it there is a ban on communication with foreigners, censorship. Since the mid-70s of the last century there has been obvious ideological pressure on culture, propaganda of ideological consistency of works to the detriment of artistic value. And this is hypocrisy, ideological narrow-mindedness, in which it is stifling to exist, and there is an unbearable desire for freedom.

3. Failed attempts to reform the Soviet system. First they led to stagnation in production and trade, then they led to the collapse of the political system. The sowing phenomenon is attributed to the economic reform of 1965. And at the end of the 1980s, they began to declare the sovereignty of the republic and stopped paying taxes to the union and federal Russian budgets. Thus, economic ties were severed.

4. General deficit. It was depressing to see the situation in which simple things like a refrigerator, a TV, furniture, and even toilet paper had to be “taken out,” and sometimes they were “thrown away”—unpredictably put up for sale, and citizens, abandoning everything they were doing, almost fought in lines. It was not just a terrible lag behind the standard of living in other countries, but also an awareness of complete dependence: you can’t have a two-level house in the country, even a small one, you can’t have more than six “acres” of land for a garden...

5. Extensive economy. With it, production output increases to the same extent as the values of used production fixed assets, material resources and the number of employees. And if production efficiency increases, then there is no money left to update fixed production assets - equipment, premises, and there is nothing to introduce scientific and technical innovations. The production assets of the USSR were simply worn out to the extreme. In 1987, they tried to introduce a set of measures called “Acceleration,” but they were no longer able to correct the deplorable situation.

6. Crisis of confidence in such an economic system. Consumer goods were monotonous - remember the furniture set, chandelier and plates in the houses of the heroes in Moscow and Leningrad in Eldar Ryazanov's film "The Irony of Fate". Moreover, domestic steel products are of low quality - maximum simplicity in execution and cheap materials. Stores were filled with scary goods that no one needed, and people were chasing shortages. The quantity was produced in three shifts with poor quality control. In the early 1980s, the word “low-grade” became a synonym for the word “Soviet” in relation to goods.

7. Wasting money. Almost all of the people's treasury began to be spent on the arms race, which they lost, and they also constantly gave away Soviet money to help the countries of the socialist camp.

8. Decline in world oil prices. As follows from the previous explanations, production was stagnant. So by the beginning of the 1980s, the USSR, as they say, was firmly sitting on the oil needle. The sharp decline in oil prices in 1985-1986 crippled the oil giant.

9. Centrifugal nationalist tendencies. The desire of peoples to independently develop their culture and economy, which they were deprived of under an authoritarian regime. Unrest began. December 16, 1986 in Alma-Ata - a protest demonstration against Moscow’s imposition of “its” first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the KazSSR. In 1988 - the Karabakh conflict, mutual ethnic cleansing of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In 1990 - unrest in the Fergana Valley (Osh massacre). In Crimea - between returning Crimean Tatars and Russians. In the Prigorodny region of North Ossetia - between Ossetians and returning Ingush.

10. Monocentrism of decision-making in Moscow. The situation was later called the parade of sovereignties in 1990-1991. In addition to the severance of economic ties between the union republics, the autonomous republics are becoming isolated - many of them adopt Declarations of Sovereignty, which challenge the priority of all-union laws over republican ones. In essence, a war of laws has begun, which is close to lawlessness on a federal scale.

Collapse of the USSR

At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union, one of the two largest powers in the world, ceased to exist. What led to the collapse of the USSR? How these events took place, not so distant, but had a huge impact on the further course of human history.

Reasons for the collapse of the USSR

Of course, such a large power could not collapse just like that. There were many reasons for the collapse of the USSR. The main one was the strong dissatisfaction of the overwhelming majority of the population with the existing regime. This dissatisfaction was of a socio-economic nature. Socially, people wanted freedom: Gorbachev’s perestroika, which initially raised expectations of change, did not live up to the people’s hopes. New slogans and ideas, new leaders, more courageous and radical (at least in words), found a much greater response in people's hearts than the actions of the existing government. In economic terms, monstrous fatigue has accumulated from constant shortages, queues, from the knowledge that there, in the distant capitalist West, people live much better. At that time, few people followed oil prices, the collapse of which was one of the reasons for the catastrophe in the economy. It seemed like change the system and everything would be fine. In addition, the Soviet Union was a multinational state, and at the time of crisis, national sentiments (as well as interethnic contradictions) manifested themselves especially clearly. But another important reason collapse of the USSR became the lust for power of the new leaders. The collapse of the country and the formation of several new ones allowed them to satisfy their ambitions, and therefore they took advantage of popular discontent and tore the Soviet Union into pieces. The public mind is quite easy to manipulate when people are angry. The people themselves went to the streets to rally and the new power-hungry, of course, could not help but take advantage of this. However, entering the realm of conjecture, one can assume that other countries actively tried to take advantage of the reasons that led to the collapse of the USSR. Unlike modern “orange-pink” revolutions, the collapse of the Soviet Union was not due to their political “technologies”, but they tried to grab all sorts of advantages for themselves by supporting certain individuals from among the “new leaders” in various ways.

Fall of communist regimes

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who started perestroika, introduced such concepts as “glasnost” and “democracy” into use. In addition, he made a sharp rapprochement with our former enemies: Western countries. The foreign policy of the USSR changed radically: “new thinking” required qualitative changes. A number of friendly meetings were held with the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan. In an effort to gain a reputation as a democratic leader, Mikhail Gorbachev behaved differently on the world stage than his predecessors. Sensing weakness, “our new friends” sharply became more active in the Warsaw Pact countries and began to use tactics of displacing undesirable regimes from within, which they then repeatedly used, and which later became known as “color revolutions.” The pro-Western opposition received great support, but most importantly, the people were actively instilled with the idea that the current leaders were guilty of all sins and that the “movement towards democracy” would bring people freedom and prosperity. Such propaganda ultimately led not only to the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, but also to the collapse of the USSR: without realizing it, Gorbachev was cutting off the branch on which he was sitting. Poland was the first to rebel, then Hungary, followed by Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The transition from communism in these countries took place peacefully, but in Romania Ceausescu decided to suppress the uprising by force. But times have changed: the troops went over to the side of the protesters, and the communist leader was shot. Among these events, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the two Germanys stand out. The division of the former fascist power was one of the results of the Great Patriotic War, and to unite them simply the will of the people was not enough; the consent of the Soviet Union was a necessary condition. Subsequently, after the collapse of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, who agreed to the reunification of Germany, claimed that in exchange he received a promise from Western countries about the non-entry of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact into NATO, but this was not legally formalized in any way. Therefore, our “friends” rejected the fact of such an agreement. This is just one example of the numerous mistakes of Soviet diplomacy during the collapse of the USSR. The fall of communist regimes in 1989 became a prototype of what would begin to happen in the Soviet Union itself less than a year later.

Parade of sovereignties

Sensing the weakness of the regime, local leaders, indulging liberal and nationalist sentiments among the people (perhaps even encouraging them), began to take more and more power into their own hands and declare the sovereignty of their territories. While this has not yet led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has increasingly undermined it, just as pests gradually turn a tree into dust from the inside until it collapses. The population's trust and respect for the central government fell, following declarations of sovereignty, the priority of local laws over federal ones was announced, and tax revenues to the union budget were reduced, since local leaders kept them for themselves. All this was a strong blow to the economy of the USSR, which was planned, not market, and largely depended on the clear interaction of territories in the field of transport, industry, etc. And now in many areas the situation was increasingly reminiscent of the fable of the swan, the crayfish and the pike, which increasingly weakened the country’s already weak economy. This inevitably affected the people, who blamed everything on the communists and who increasingly wanted a transition to capitalism. The parade of sovereignties began with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, then Lithuania and Georgia followed suit. In 1990 and 1991, all union republics, including the RSFSR and some autonomous republics, declared their sovereignty. For leaders, the word “sovereignty” was synonymous with the word “power”; for ordinary people, it was synonymous with the word “freedom”. The overthrow of the communist regime and collapse of the USSR were approaching...

Referendum on preserving the USSR

An attempt was made to preserve the Soviet Union. In order to rely on broad sections of the population, the authorities offered the people to give the old state a renewed look. They seduced people with promises that the Soviet Union in a “new package” would be better than the old one and held a referendum on preserving the USSR in an updated form, which took place in March 1991. Three quarters (76%) of the population were in favor of maintaining the state, which was supposed to stop collapse of the USSR, preparation of the draft of a new Union Treaty began, the post of President of the USSR was introduced, which, naturally, became Mikhail Gorbachev. But when was this opinion of the people seriously taken into account in big games? Although the Union did not collapse, and the referendum was an all-Union one, some local “kings” (namely Georgian, Armenian, Moldavian and three Baltic) sabotaged the vote in their republics. And in the RSFSR, on June 12, 1991, elections for the President of Russia took place, which were won by Boris Yeltsin, one of Gorbachev’s opponents.

The August 1991 coup and the State Emergency Committee

However, Soviet party functionaries were not going to sit idly by and watch the collapse of the USSR, and, consequently, the deprivation of their power. Taking advantage of the absence of Gorbachev, who was on vacation in Faros, Crimea (by the way, whether he knew or not, The President of the USSR himself participated or did not participate in the putsch, there are different opinions), they staged a coup d'état with the declared goal of preserving the unity of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, it received the name of the August putsch. The conspirators created the State Committee for a State of Emergency, and put Gennady Yanaev at the head of the USSR. In the memory of Soviet people, the August putsch was remembered primarily for the round-the-clock showing of “Swan Lake” on TV, as well as for the unprecedented popular unity in overthrowing the “new government.” The putschists had no chance. Their success was associated with a return to earlier times, so the protest sentiments were too strong. The resistance was led by Boris Yeltsin. This was his finest hour. In three days, the State Emergency Committee was overthrown, and the legitimate President of the country was released. The country rejoiced. But Yeltsin was not the kind of person to pull chestnuts out of the fire for Gorbachev. Gradually he took more and more powers. And other leaders saw a clear weakening of central power. By the end of the year, all republics (except the Russian Federation) declared their independence and secession from the Soviet Union. The collapse of the USSR was inevitable.

Bialowieza Accords

In December of the same year, a meeting was held between Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich (at that time - the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus), at which the liquidation of the Soviet Union was announced and a decision was made to create the Union of Independent States (CIS). It was a strong blow. Gorbachev was indignant, but there was nothing he could do. On December 21, in the capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty, all other union republics, except the Baltic and Georgia, joined the CIS.

Date of collapse of the USSR

On December 25, 1991, the out-of-work Gorbachev announced his resignation as president “for reasons of principle” (what else could he do?) and handed over control of the “nuclear suitcase” to Yeltsin. The next day, December 26, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted declaration No. 142-N, which stated the termination of the existence of the state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In addition, a number of administrative institutions of the former Soviet Union were liquidated. This day is legally considered the date of the collapse of the USSR.

Thus occurred the liquidation of one of the largest and most powerful powers in history, due both to the “help of Western friends” and to the internal incapacity of the existing Soviet system.

How did the collapse of the USSR happen? The causes and consequences of this event are still of interest to historians and political scientists. It is interesting because not everything is still clear about the situation that arose in the early 1990s. Now many residents of the CIS would like to return to those times and once again unite into one of the most powerful states in the world. So why then did people stop believing in a happy future together? This is one of the most important questions that interests many today.

The event, which occurred at the end of December 1991, led to the creation of 15 independent states. The reasons lie in the economic crisis of the country and the distrust of the ordinary Soviet people in power, no matter what party it represents. Based on this, the collapse of the USSR, the causes and consequences of this event are associated with the fact that the Supreme Council, after the self-recusal of the state president M.S. Gorbachev. decided to end the existence of a country that won two wars.

Currently, historians identify only a few reasons for the collapse of the USSR. Among the main versions are the following:

The political system in the country was too strict, which prohibited many liberties for the people in the sphere of religion, censorship, commerce, etc.;

The not entirely successful attempts of the Gorbachev government to rebuild the political system of the Soviet Union through reforms that led to economic and;

Lack of power in the regions, because almost all important decisions were made by Moscow (even regarding those issues that were entirely within the competence of the regions);

The war in Afghanistan, the Cold War against the United States, constant financial support from other socialist states, despite the fact that some areas of life required significant reconstruction.

The causes and consequences attracted the fact that that time was transferred to the new 15 states. So maybe there was no need to rush into disintegration. After all, this declaration did not significantly change the situation among the people. Maybe in a few years the Soviet Union could level out and calmly continue its development?

Perhaps the causes and consequences of the collapse of the USSR are also related to the fact that some states were afraid of the new form of power, when many liberals and nationalists entered parliament, and they themselves left. Among these countries were the following: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova . Most likely, it was they who set an excellent example for the rest of the republics, and they began to desire secession even more. What if these six states had waited a little longer? Maybe then it would have been possible to preserve the integrity of the borders and political system of the Soviet Union.

The collapse of the USSR, the causes and consequences of this event were accompanied by various political congresses and referendums, which, unfortunately, did not bring the desired result. Therefore, at the end of 1991, almost no one believed in the future of the largest country in the world.

The most well-known consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union are:

Instant transformation of the Russian Federation, where Yeltsin immediately carried out several economic and political reforms;

There were many interethnic wars (mostly these events took place in the Caucasian territories);

The division of the Black Sea Fleet, the collapse of the Armed Forces of the state and the division of territories that occurred between until recently friendly nations.

Everyone must decide for themselves whether we did the right thing in 1991, or whether we should have waited a little and allowed the country to recover from its many problems and continue its happy existence.

Collapse of the USSR- processes of systemic disintegration that took place in the economy (national economy), social structure, public and political sphere of the Soviet Union under the influence of targeted policies outlined in Directive 20/1 of the US National Security Council of August 18, 1948, which led to the demise of the USSR on December 26 1991.

The collapse of the USSR led to the independence of 15 republics from the USSR and their emergence on the world political stage as states in which mostly crypto-colonial regimes were established, that is, regimes in which sovereignty is formally legally preserved, while in practice there is a loss of political, economic and other sovereignties and the work of the state in the interests of the metropolis.

Prehistory

The USSR inherited most of the territory and multinational structure of the Russian Empire. In 1917-1921 Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Tuva gained independence. Some territories in 1939-1946. became part of the USSR (the Polish campaign of the Red Army, the entry into the USSR of the Baltic states and the Tuvan People's Republic).

After the end of World War II, the USSR had a vast territory in Europe and Asia, with access to seas and oceans, enormous natural resources, and a developed socialist-type economy based on regional specialization and interregional economic ties. In addition, the leadership of the “socialist camp countries” was under partial control or consulted with the authorities of the USSR.

In the 70-80s, conflicts created on interethnic grounds (the 1972 riots in Kaunas, the 1978 mass demonstrations in Georgia, the 1980 events in Minsk, the December 1986 events in Kazakhstan) were insignificant for the development of the entire Union, but showed intensification activities of a similar organization to the phenomenon that has recently been called the “Orange Revolution”. At that time, Soviet ideology emphasized that the USSR was a friendly family of fraternal peoples, and this growing problem did not become more acute. The USSR was led by representatives of various nationalities (Georgian I.V. Stalin, Ukrainians L.I. Brezhnev, K.U. Chernenko and others). Russians, the most numerous people, lived not only on the territory of the RSFSR, but also in all other republics. Each of the republics of the Soviet Union had its own anthem and its own party leadership (except for the RSFSR) - the first secretary, etc.

The leadership of the multinational state was centralized - the country was headed by the central bodies of the CPSU, which controlled the entire hierarchy of government bodies. The leaders of the union republics were approved by the central leadership. The Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR, based on the results of the agreements reached at the Yalta Conference, had their representatives in the UN from the moment of its founding.

The actual state of affairs differed from the design described in the Constitution of the USSR, which was the result of the activities of the bureaucracy, which after the 1953 coup d'etat emerged as an exploitative class and was not interested in ensuring that the provisions of the 1936 Constitution were implemented. For example, there was no procedural formalization, although it was declared that the people had the opportunity to recall a deputy who could not cope with his duties.

After Stalin's death, some decentralization of power took place. In particular, it became a strict rule to appoint a representative of the titular nation of the corresponding republic to the post of first secretary in the republics. The second secretary of the party in the republics was a protege of the Central Committee. This led to the fact that local leaders had a certain independence and unconditional power in their regions. After the collapse of the USSR, many of these leaders were transformed into presidents of their respective states (except Shushkevich). However, in Soviet times, their fate depended on the central leadership.

Reasons for the collapse

Currently, there is no single point of view among historians on what was the main cause of the collapse of the USSR, and also on whether it was possible to prevent or at least stop the process of collapse of the USSR. Possible reasons include the following:

centrifugal nationalist tendencies that arose as a result of the failure of the leadership of the USSR to fulfill the tasks of civilizational development, manifested in the form of interethnic contradictions and the desire of individual peoples to independently develop their culture and economy;
the authoritarian nature of Soviet society and the gradual fascisation, expressed in the lordship of the “elite” - the party nomenklatura, which took shape as an exploitative class and the servility of the population, which ultimately led to the natural outcome predicted by V.O. Klyuchevsky: “A righteous society made up of scoundrels” is the suppression of Human potential
the dominance of one ideology, ideological narrow-mindedness, a ban on communication with foreign countries, censorship, lack of free discussion of alternatives;
growing dissatisfaction of the population due to purposefully created shortages of food and the most necessary goods (refrigerators, televisions, toilet paper, etc.), ridiculous prohibitions and restrictions (on the size of a garden plot, etc.), a constant lag in the standard of living from developed Western countries;
disproportions of the extensive economy (characteristic of the period of existence of the USSR, which began after the coup d'etat of 1953 and Khrushchev’s “thaw”), the consequence of which was a constant shortage of consumer goods, a growing technical gap in all spheres of the manufacturing industry (which can only be compensated for in an extensive economy by high-cost mobilization measures, a set of such measures under the general name “Acceleration” was adopted in 1987, but there was no longer any economic opportunity to implement it);
crisis of confidence in the economic system: in the 1960-1970s. The main way to combat the inevitable shortage of consumer goods in a planned economy was to rely on mass production, simplicity and cheapness of materials; most enterprises worked in three shifts, producing similar products from low-quality materials. After 1953, the quantitative plan became the only way to evaluate the efficiency of enterprises; quality control was minimized. The result of this was a sharp drop in the quality of consumer goods produced in the USSR, as a result, already in the early 1980s. the term “Soviet” in relation to goods was synonymous with the term “low quality”. The crisis of confidence in the quality of goods became a crisis of confidence in the entire economic system as a whole;
a number of man-made disasters (plane crashes, the Chernobyl accident, the crash of the Admiral Nakhimov, gas explosions, etc.) and the concealment of information about them;
unsuccessful attempts to reform the Soviet system, which led to stagnation and then the collapse of the economy, which led to the collapse of the political system (economic reform of 1965);
the decline in world oil prices, which shook the economy of the USSR;
monocentrism of decision-making (only in Moscow), which led to inefficiency and loss of time;
defeat in the arms race, victory of “Reaganomics” in this race;
The Afghan war, the Cold War, continuous financial assistance to the countries of the socialist camp, the development of the military-industrial complex to the detriment of other areas of the economy ruined the budget;
the interest of Western states in weakening the USSR;
subversive activities of foreign intelligence services;
betrayal by the heads of many departments of state interests and refusal to defend the Motherland in favor of robbing the Motherland in their own interests.

But the main reason for the possible collapse of the USSR and all of the above phenomena in Soviet society is the conceptual uncertainty of the management of the entire Russian civilization, then called the Soviet Union.

Conceptual uncertainty- this is such a course of affairs when sometimes the same people at different times perform actions that are permissible or necessary in one management concept and are prohibited in principle or in specific circumstances in the same management concept.

Society’s overcoming of the conceptual uncertainty of management consists in the fact that people, in the process of their lives and activities, themselves and with the help of others or under the pressure of circumstances, consciously determine what in their intentions and actions corresponds to a fair concept of the structure of life, and what does not, and On this basis, preference is given either to this concept in its development, or to alternative concepts of the preservation and reproduction of the crowd-“elite” structure of society in the continuity of generations.

All people in society live, overcoming conceptual uncertainties, including uncertainty in the answer of the affairs of life to the question: in what circumstances is it appropriate to manage collective activities? In what circumstances is self-government of participants in collective activities appropriate? And in what circumstances and how should self-government and management be combined, mutually complementing and supporting each other?

Conceptual uncertainty of management

The conceptual uncertainty of behavior (management) manifests itself in Russia due to the fact that the Western worldview has not become undividedly dominant in it, and the same people tend to carry out actions in their behavior that are both consistent with Western stereotypes based on the Bible and contrary to it. This is widespread, which explains the causes of all Russian social disasters over the last millennium, including the current crisis. This results in the inconsistency and incompleteness of all Russian reforms, without exception, both pro-Western (in pursuance of the doctrine of enslavement of the world through a financial debt stranglehold - the usurious system), and the “original path of development” (aimed at eradicating the usurious doctrine, sometimes together with its conscious supporters and unconscious carriers ).

On a personal level, the misery of this kind of life is explained by the words of the Apostle James:

A man with double thoughts is not firm in all his ways

(James 1:8).

At the level of considering society, in which there are many such people with double thoughts, the prospects are known from the words of Christ:

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand; and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand; and if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come

(Mark 3:24 - 26).

The possibility of the collapse of the USSR was considered and modeled in Western political science (Hélène d’Encausse, “The Divided Empire,” 1978) and the journalism of Soviet dissidents (Andrei Amalrik, “Will the Soviet Union Exist Until 1984?”, 1969). Also, the division of the USSR into several states was stated as one of the goals of Directive 20/1 of the US National Security Council of August 18, 1948, which, by the way, is still in effect.

Course of events

Since 1985, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M. S. Gorbachev and his supporters began the policy of perestroika, the political activity of the people increased sharply, and mass movements and organizations were formed, including radical and nationalist ones. Attempts to reform the Soviet system led to a deepening crisis in the country. In the political arena, this crisis was expressed as a confrontation between USSR President Gorbachev and RSFSR President Yeltsin. Yeltsin actively promoted the slogan of the need for the sovereignty of the RSFSR.

General crisis

The collapse of the USSR took place against the backdrop of a purposefully created general economic, foreign policy and demographic crisis. In 1989, the beginning of the economic crisis in the USSR was officially announced for the first time (economic growth was replaced by decline).

We examined this moment in history when we analyzed the behavior of the Central Bank in an article where we presented this table:

The table was constructed based on data from various yearbooks of the Central Statistics Service (Goskomstat) in 1985. It gave a forecast of inflation growth. The forecast was almost completely confirmed by the events of the early 90s, when on February 27, 1992, Decree No. 196 “On lifting restrictions on the use of public funds in special accounts in the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation” was signed, which essentially dealt with the “unfreezing” of Soviet deposits. And then hidden inflation, accumulated in the form of deposits in savings books, poured into the economy, essentially destroying it.

The Soviet leadership created the illusion of having large savings by giving citizens the opportunity to periodically buy something at fixed prices. People saw: if you stand in line for a long, long time, make the right connections, pay a little extra to those who need it, then you can turn your savings into goods and services. The problem was that if everyone wanted to do it at the same time, nothing would work. It was one big pyramid of illusions, and the contributions of Soviet citizens were at the base of this pyramid.

This construction of the pyramid actually began with the liquidation of the business market in the USSR, when N.S. Khrushchev began this process in 1956 (http://anticomprador.ru/publ/a_k_trubicyn_o_staline_i_predprinimateljakh/29-1-0-1065). In 1959-1960, the non-state sector of the economy was liquidated (enterprises of fishing cooperatives and personal plots of collective farmers, which, by the way, under Stalin were up to 1 hectare), which ensured the production of a significant part of industrial goods (clothing, shoes, furniture, dishes, toys, etc.). etc.), food (vegetables, livestock and poultry products, fish products), as well as household services (about the fact that highly productive artels were not needed in 1987, read “Confession of a prospector who mined 400,000,000 grams of gold” http: //ss69100.livejournal.com/673699.html). In 1957, the State Planning Committee and line ministries (except for defense) were liquidated.

So instead of effective combination of planned and market economies neither one nor the other became available (“Remembering the USSR”, the first part http://nstarikov.ru/blog/23233 and the second part http://nstarikov.ru/blog/23246). In 1965, after Khrushchev was removed from power, the State Planning Committee and ministries were restored, but with significantly reduced rights. And in 1961, a monetary reform was carried out, which brought two troubles to the country - dependence on oil exports and chronic food shortages, leading to corruption in trade (http://nstarikov.ru/blog/40807). The most terrible thing in all this is that the catastrophe of the USSR was prepared in advance...

In the period 1989-1991. the main problem of the Soviet economy reaches its maximum - chronic commodity shortages; Almost all basic goods, except bread, disappear from free sale. Rationed supplies in the form of coupons are being introduced throughout the country.

Since 1991, a demographic crisis (an excess of mortality over the birth rate) has been recorded for the first time.

The refusal of the leadership after 1953 to carry out the mission of building a just society and helping friendly countries in this entailed a massive fall of pro-Soviet communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and this trend in 1989 grew in the riotous color of a “parade of sovereignties.” In Poland, former leader of the Solidarity trade union Lech Walesa comes to power (December 9, 1990), in Czechoslovakia - former dissident Vaclav Havel (December 29, 1989). In Romania, unlike other countries in Eastern Europe, the communists were removed by force, and President Ceausescu and his wife were shot. Thus, there is a virtual collapse of the Soviet sphere of influence.

On the territory of the USSR, as if by pattern, if you look at the technology of creating the “orange revolutions,” a number of interethnic conflicts flared up.

The first manifestation of tension during the Perestroika period was the events in Kazakhstan. On December 16, 1986, a protest demonstration took place in Alma-Ata after Moscow tried to impose its protégé V.G. on the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the KazSSR. Kolbin, who had previously worked as the first secretary of the Ulyanovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU and had nothing to do with Kazakhstan. This demonstration was suppressed by internal troops. Some of its participants “disappeared” or were imprisoned. These events are known as "Zheltoksan".

The Karabakh conflict that began in 1988 was particularly acute. Mutual ethnic cleansing is taking place, and in Azerbaijan this was accompanied by mass pogroms. In 1989, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR announced the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Azerbaijan SSR began a blockade. In April 1991, a war actually began between the two Soviet republics.

In 1990, unrest occurred in the Fergana Valley, a feature of which was the mixing of several Central Asian nationalities (Osh massacre). The decision to rehabilitate the peoples deported during the Stalin era, who were deported due to their high separatist potential, leads to increased tension in a number of regions, in particular in Crimea - between returning Crimean Tatars and Russians, in the Prigorodny region of North Ossetia - between Ossetians and returning Ingush .

Against the background of the general crisis, the popularity of radical democrats led by Boris Yeltsin is growing; it reaches its maximum in the two largest cities - Moscow and Leningrad.

Movements in the republics for secession from the USSR and the “parade of sovereignties”

On February 7, 1990, the CPSU Central Committee announced the weakening of the monopoly on power, and within a few weeks the first competitive elections were held. Liberals and nationalists won many seats in the parliaments of the union republics.

During 1990-1991 the so-called “parade of sovereignties”, during which all the union republics (one of the first was the RSFSR) and many of the autonomous republics adopted Declarations of Sovereignty, in which they challenged the priority of all-union laws over republican ones, which began the “war of laws”. They also took actions to control local economies, including refusals to pay taxes to the union and federal Russian budgets. These conflicts cut off many economic ties, which further worsened the economic situation in the USSR.

1991 referendum on preserving the USSR

In March 1991, a referendum was held in which the overwhelming majority of the population in each of the republics voted in favor of preserving the USSR.

In the six union republics (Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia), which had previously declared independence or a transition to independence, an all-Union referendum was not actually held (the authorities of these republics did not form Central Election Commissions, there was no general voting of the population ) with the exception of some territories (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, a number of regions of the Baltic republics), but at other times referendums on independence were held.

It was planned to conclude a new union on August 20, 1991 - the Union of Sovereign States (USS) as a soft federation. Thus, the results of the referendum and the will of the peoples of the USSR were violated.

Draft of a new Union Treaty

The leadership of the USSR, led by Mikhail Gorbachev, moves to the following actions:

Conducting an all-Union referendum in which the majority of voters were in favor of preserving the USSR;
The establishment of the post of President of the USSR in connection with the prospect of the CPSU losing power;
A project to create a new Union Treaty, in which the rights of the republics were significantly expanded.

The idea of a union treaty was put forward by the popular fronts of the Baltic republics back in 1988. The center adopted the idea of a treaty later, when centrifugal tendencies were gaining strength and there was a “parade of sovereignties.” The question of Russian sovereignty was raised in June 1990 at the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. The Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Federation was adopted. This meant that the Soviet Union as a state entity was losing its main support.

The Declaration formally delimited the powers of the center and the republic, which did not contradict the Constitution. In practice, it established dual power in the country.

The example of Russia strengthened separatist tendencies in the union republics.

However, the indecisive and inconsistent actions of the country's central leadership did not lead to success. In April 1991, the Union Center and nine republics (with the exception of the Baltic, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova) signed documents declaring the provisions of the new union treaty. However, the situation was complicated by the outbreak of a struggle between the parliaments of the USSR and Russia, which turned into a war of laws.

At the beginning of April 1990, the Law “On strengthening responsibility for attacks on the national equality of citizens and violent violation of the unity of the territory of the USSR” was adopted, which established criminal liability for public calls for the violent overthrow or change of the Soviet social and state system.

But almost simultaneously with this, the Law “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the withdrawal of a union republic from the USSR” was adopted, which regulated the procedure and procedure for secession from the USSR through a referendum. A legal way to leave the Union was opened.

Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to preserve the USSR were dealt a serious blow with the election of Boris Yeltsin on May 29, 1990 as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. This election took place in a bitter struggle, on the third attempt and with a margin of three votes over the candidate from the conservative part of the Supreme Council, Ivan Polozkov.

Russia was also part of the USSR as one of the union republics, representing the overwhelming majority of the population of the USSR, its territory, economic and military potential. The central bodies of the RSFSR were also located in Moscow, like the all-Union ones, but were traditionally perceived as secondary in comparison with the authorities of the USSR.

With the election of Boris Yeltsin as the head of these government bodies, the RSFSR gradually set a course towards declaring its own independence, and recognizing the independence of the remaining union republics, which created the opportunity to remove Mikhail Gorbachev by dissolving all all-union institutions that he could lead.

June 12, 1990 of the year The Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty, establishing the priority of Russian laws over union laws. From that moment on, the all-Union authorities began to lose control over the country; The “parade of sovereignties” intensified.

January 12, 1991 of the year Yeltsin signs an agreement with Estonia on the fundamentals of interstate relations, in which the RSFSR and Estonia recognize each other as sovereign states.

As Chairman of the Supreme Council, Yeltsin was able to achieve the establishment of the post of President of the RSFSR, and on June 12, 1991, he won the popular election for this position.

State Emergency Committee and its consequences

A number of government and party leaders, under the slogans of preserving the unity of the country and to restore party-state control over all spheres of life, attempted a coup d'etat (GKChP, also known as the “August putsch” on August 19, 1991). However, the way it was carried out seems more like a maneuver to speed up the transfer of power.

The defeat of the putsch actually led to the collapse of the central government of the USSR, the resubordination of power structures to republican leaders and the acceleration of the collapse of the Union. Within a month after the coup, the authorities of almost all the union republics declared independence one after another. Some of them held independence referendums to give legitimacy to these decisions.

Since the Baltic republics left the USSR in September 1991, it has consisted of 12 republics.

October 28, 1991 R. I. Khasbulatov was elected to the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.

November 6, 1991 By decree of the President of the RSFSR B. Yeltsin, the activities of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR on the territory of the RSFSR were terminated.

The referendum in Ukraine, held on December 1, 1991, in which supporters of independence won even in such a traditionally pro-Russian region as Crimea, made (according to some politicians, in particular B. N. Yeltsin) the preservation of the USSR in any form completely impossible.

November 14, 1991 seven out of twelve republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) decided to conclude an agreement on the creation of the Union of Sovereign States (USS) as a confederation with its capital in Minsk. The signing was scheduled for December 9, 1991.

Declaration of independence by the republics of the USSR

None of the republics complied with all the procedures prescribed by the USSR law of April 3, 1990 “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR.” The State Council of the USSR (a body created on September 5, 1991, consisting of the heads of the union republics chaired by the President of the USSR) formally recognized the independence of only three Baltic republics (September 6, 1991, resolutions of the USSR State Council No. GS-1, GS-2, GS-3). On November 4, V.I. Ilyukhin opened a criminal case against Gorbachev under Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (treason) in connection with these resolutions of the State Council. According to Ilyukhin, Gorbachev, by signing them, violated the oath and the Constitution of the USSR and damaged the territorial integrity and state security of the USSR. After this, Ilyukhin was fired from the USSR Prosecutor's Office.

Signing of the Belovezhskaya Accords and creation of the CIS

In December 1991 The heads of the three republics, the founders of the USSR - Belarus, Russia and Ukraine gathered in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (the village of Viskuli, Belarus) to sign an agreement on the creation of the GCC. However, early agreements were rejected by Ukraine.

December 8, 1991 they stated that the USSR was ceasing to exist, declared the impossibility of forming the GCC and signed the Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The signing of the agreements caused a negative reaction from Gorbachev, but after the August putsch he no longer had real power. As B.N. later emphasized. Yeltsin, the Belovezhskaya Agreements did not dissolve the USSR, but only stated its actual collapse by that time. A noteworthy fact is that at the moment the original of the Belovezhskaya Accords has disappeared.

December 11th The USSR Constitutional Supervision Committee issued a statement condemning the Belovezhskaya Agreement. This statement had no practical consequences.

12 December The Supreme Council of the RSFSR, chaired by R.I. Khasbulatov, ratified the Belovezhsky Agreements and decided to denounce the RSFSR Union Treaty of 1922 (a number of lawyers believe that the denunciation of this treaty was meaningless, since it lost force in 1936 with the adoption of the USSR Constitution) and recall of Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (without convening the Congress, which was regarded by some as a violation of the Constitution of the RSFSR in force at that time). Due to the recall of deputies, the Council of the Union lost its quorum. It should be noted that formally Russia and Belarus did not declare independence from the USSR, but only stated the fact of the end of its existence.

December 17 Chairman of the Council of the Union K.D. Lubenchenko noted the lack of quorum at the meeting. The Council of the Union, having renamed itself the Conference of Deputies, turned to the Supreme Soviet of Russia with a request to at least temporarily cancel the decision to recall Russian deputies so that the Council of the Union could resign. This appeal was ignored.

December 21, 1991 At the meeting of presidents in Almaty (Kazakhstan), 8 more republics joined the CIS: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the so-called Almaty Agreement was signed, which became the basis of the CIS.

The CIS was founded not as a confederation, but as an international (interstate) organization, which is characterized by weak integration and a lack of real power among the coordinating supranational bodies. Membership in this organization was rejected by the Baltic republics, as well as by Georgia (it joined the CIS only in October 1993 and announced its withdrawal from the CIS after the war in South Ossetia in the summer of 2008).

Completion of the collapse and liquidation of the power structures of the USSR

The authorities of the USSR as a subject of international law ceased to exist on December 25-26, 1991. Russia declared itself a continuator of the USSR's membership (and not a legal successor, as is often erroneously stated) in international institutions, assumed the debts and assets of the USSR, and declared itself the owner of all USSR property abroad. According to data provided by the Russian Federation, at the end of 1991, the liabilities of the former Union were estimated at $93.7 billion, and assets at $110.1 billion. Vnesheconombank's deposits amounted to about $700 million. The so-called “zero option,” according to which the Russian Federation became the legal successor of the former Soviet Union in terms of external debt and assets, including foreign property, was not ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which claimed the right to dispose of the property of the USSR.

December 25, 1991 USSR President M. S. Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities as President of the USSR “for reasons of principle,” signed a decree resigning from the powers of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces and transferred control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President B. Yeltsin.

December 26, 1991 The session of the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which retained a quorum - the Council of Republics (formed by the USSR Law of 09/05/1991 N 2392-1), - from which at that time only representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were not recalled, was chaired by A. Alimzhanov, declaration No. 142-N on the termination of the existence of the USSR, as well as a number of other documents (resolution on the dismissal of judges of the Supreme and Higher Arbitration Courts of the USSR and the collegium of the USSR Prosecutor's Office (No. 143-N), resolutions on the dismissal of the Chairman of the State Bank V V. Gerashchenko (No. 144-N) and his first deputy V. N. Kulikov (No. 145-N)). December 26, 1991 is considered the day the existence of the USSR ceased to exist, although some institutions and organizations of the USSR (for example, the State Standard of the USSR, the State Committee for Public Education, the Committee for the Protection of the State Border) still continued to function during 1992, and the Committee for Constitutional Supervision of the USSR did not exist at all officially disbanded.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia and the “near abroad” constitute the so-called. "post-Soviet space".

Impact in the short term

Transformations in Russia

The collapse of the USSR led to the almost immediate launch of a broad program of reform by Yeltsin and his supporters. The most radical first steps were:

in the economic field - price liberalization on January 2, 1992, which served as the beginning of “shock therapy”;
in the political field - the ban on the CPSU (November 1991); liquidation of the Soviet system as a whole (September 21 - October 4, 1993).

In July 1991 The President of Russia signed a decree on departition, which prohibited the activities of party organizations in enterprises and institutions.

Interethnic conflicts

In the last years of the existence of the USSR, the potential for interethnic conflicts was actively used on its territory. After its collapse, most of them immediately went into the phase of armed clashes:

Karabakh conflict - the war of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh for independence from Azerbaijan;
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict - conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia;
Georgian-South Ossetian conflict - conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia;
Ossetian-Ingush conflict - clashes between Ossetians and Ingush in the Prigorodny region;
Civil War in Tajikistan - inter-clan civil war in Tajikistan;
The First Chechen War - the struggle of Russian federal forces with separatists in Chechnya;
The conflict in Transnistria is the struggle of the Moldovan authorities with the separatists in Transnistria.

According to Vladimir Mukomel, the number of deaths in interethnic conflicts in 1988-96 is about 100 thousand people. The number of refugees as a result of these conflicts amounted to at least 5 million people.

Division of the Black Sea Fleet

The status of the former USSR Black Sea Fleet was settled only in 1997 with a division between Russia and Ukraine. For several years it maintained an uncertain status and served as a source of friction between the two states.

The fate of the only Soviet full-fledged aircraft carrier, Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov, is noteworthy: it was completed by 1989. In December 1991, due to its uncertain status, it arrived from the Black Sea and joined the Russian Northern Fleet, which remains part of it to this day. At the same time, all aircraft and pilots remained in Ukraine; re-staffing took place only in 1998.

Nuclear-free status of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan

As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the number of nuclear powers increased, since at the time of the signing of the Belovezh Accords, Soviet nuclear weapons were stationed on the territory of four union republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

The joint diplomatic efforts of Russia and the United States of America led to the fact that Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan renounced their status as nuclear powers and transferred to Russia all the military atomic potential found on their territory.

October 24, 1991 The Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on the nuclear-free status of Ukraine. On January 14, 1992, a trilateral agreement between Russia, the United States and Ukraine was signed. All atomic charges are dismantled and transported to Russia, strategic bombers and missile launch silos are destroyed with US money. In return, the United States and Russia provide guarantees of the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

December 5, 1994 In Budapest, a Memorandum was signed by which Russia, the USA and Great Britain pledged to refrain from using force, economic coercion and to convene the UN Security Council to take the necessary measures if there is a threat of aggression towards Ukraine.

In Belarus, the nuclear-free status is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The United States and Russia provide guarantees of independence and territorial integrity.

During 1992-1994, Kazakhstan transferred up to 1,150 units of strategic nuclear weapons to Russia.

Status of the Baikonur Cosmodrome

With the collapse of the USSR, the largest Soviet cosmodrome, Baikonur, finds itself in a critical situation - funding collapsed, and the cosmodrome itself ended up on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Its status was regulated in 1994 with the conclusion of a long-term lease agreement with the Kazakh side.

The collapse of the USSR from a legal point of view

Legislation of the USSR

Until December 1993, the Constitution of the USSR was in force on the territory of Russia in accordance with Article 4 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation - Russia (RSFSR), despite numerous amendments made to it that excluded mention of the USSR.

Article 72 of the 1977 USSR Constitution determined:

Each union republic retains the right to freely secede from the USSR.

The procedure for the implementation of this right, enshrined in law, was not observed (see above), but it was, as it were, “legitimized” mainly by the internal legislation of the states that left the USSR, as well as subsequent events, for example, their international legal recognition by the world communities - all 15 former Soviet republics are recognized by the world community as independent states and are represented in the UN.

And this means that, purely legally, due to the republics’ failure to comply with the withdrawal procedure and the disappearance of the original agreement, which states the collapse, the USSR still exists today, but it is not customary to talk about it. However, the West has a fear of an unexpected “remembering” of this fact and is expressed in their culture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqNv6jRb1lY

International law

Russia declared itself the successor of the USSR, which was recognized by almost all other states. The remaining post-Soviet states (with the exception of the Baltic states) became the legal successors of the USSR (in particular, the USSR's obligations under international treaties) and the corresponding union republics. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia declared themselves successors to the respective states that existed in 1918-1940. Georgia declared itself the successor of the Republic of Georgia 1918-1921. Moldova is not a successor to the MSSR, since a law was passed in which the decree on the creation of the MSSR was called illegal, which is perceived by many as a legal justification for the PMR’s claims to independence. Azerbaijan declared itself a successor to the ADR, while maintaining some agreements and treaties adopted by the Azerbaijan SSR. Within the UN framework, all 15 states are considered successors of the respective union republics, and therefore the territorial claims of these countries to each other are not recognized (including the pre-existing claims of Latvia and Estonia to Russia) and the independence of state entities that were not in including the union republics (including Abkhazia, which had such status, but lost it).

Ratings

Assessments of the collapse of the USSR are ambiguous. The USA, opponents of the USSR in the Cold War, perceived the collapse of the USSR as their victory. And they even established a medal “For Victory in the Cold War.”

In this regard, in the United States, for example, one can often hear disappointment in victory: the “Russians” who lost the war are still a nuclear power, defend national interests, interfere in foreign policy disputes, and so on.

A loser hasn't lost... a loser doesn't think he's lost... and hasn't acted like a loser since 1991,

Former commander of US strategic nuclear forces, General Eugene Habiger, said in an interview shown on CNN's "Doomsday Rehearsal." Or the recent sensational hysteria of the US representative to the UN Samantha Power, who told Vitaly Churkin that Russia lost the Cold War and has no right to behave like that, after Russia, represented by Churkin, vetoed the resolution on Ukraine.

April 25, 2005 Russian President V. Putin, in his message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, stated:

First of all, it should be recognized that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. For the Russian people it became a real drama. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory. The epidemic of collapse also spread to Russia itself.

A similar opinion was expressed in 2008 by the President of Belarus A.G. Lukashenko:

The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, primarily due to the destruction of the existing system of the bipolar world. Many hoped that the end of the Cold War would mean getting rid of large military expenditures, and the freed-up resources would be used to solve global problems - food, energy, environmental and others. But these expectations were not met. The Cold War has been replaced by an even more fierce struggle for energy resources. In essence, a new redivision of the world has begun. Any means are used, including the occupation of independent states.

In October 2009, in an interview with the editor-in-chief of Radio Liberty Lyudmila Telen, the first and only president of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev admitted his responsibility for the collapse of the USSR:

Lyudmila Telen:

Are you still reproached for the fact that you destroyed the Soviet Union?

Mikhail Gorbachev:

This issue is resolved. Destroyed...

Conclusion

According to the sixth wave of regular international population surveys within the framework of the Eurasian Monitor program, 52% of respondents in Belarus, 68% in Russia and 59% in Ukraine regret the collapse of the Soviet Union; 36%, 24% and 30% of respondents, respectively, do not regret; 12%, 8% and 11% found it difficult to answer this question.

The failed “putsch” of the Emergency Committee and the completion of perestroika meant not only the end of socialist reform in the USSR, but also the victory of those political forces that saw a change in the model of social development as the country’s only way out of the protracted crisis. This was a conscious choice not only of the authorities, but also of the majority of society.

“Revolution from above” in Russia in the 90s. led to the formation of an unbridled “free” market, subordinate to transnational corporations and a usurious oligarchy. These changes were only the beginning of an economic transition period.

During the political transformations, the Soviet system of organizing power was dismantled. Instead, the formation of a political system based on the separation of powers began. With the introduction of Article 13 into the 1993 Constitution, the state was deprived of the opportunity to set development goals (ideology), which means the country became a crypto-colony.

Due to the redistribution of power between the weakened federal Center and the growing regions (primarily national ones), centrifugal tendencies have intensified. In this situation, maintaining the state unity of the country was the most important task, which was not solved for the USSR, but Russia in the early 2000s, largely thanks to V.V. Putin coped with this task, although the trends were towards the destruction of Russia as a state (again, in full accordance with Directive 20/1 of the US National Security Council of August 18, 1948).

The collapse of the USSR radically changed Russia's geostrategic position. The country's unified security and defense system was destroyed. NATO has moved closer to the borders of Russia. At the same time, Russia itself, having overcome its previous isolation from Western countries, has found itself, as never before, integrated into many international structures.

By the beginning of the 21st century, Russia had lost its status as a great world power. The standard of living of the population dropped to a minimum. It was necessary to take urgent measures to correct the situation.

A new strategic course was proposed by V.V. Putin, who relied on strengthening statehood, relying on the people and achieving through this the revival and prosperity of the country, taking into account all the positive experience accumulated at all stages of the national history of past centuries.

The new integration project of the Eurasian Union, which is officially formalized on January 1, 2015, will in the future unite many more countries than the USSR, because Russia has emerged from a period of turmoil with a new project of globalization in Russian, which is expressed in a simple idea that is based on the philosophy of the Russian civilizations:

People - let's become Humans!

In the valley where Ruslan lay
Covered in blood, silent, motionless;
And the old man stood over the knight,
And sprinkled with dead water,
And the wounds shone instantly,
And the corpse is wonderfully beautiful
Thrived; then with living water
The elder sprinkled the hero
And cheerful, full of new strength,
Trembling with young life,
Ruslan gets up on a clear day
He looks with greedy eyes,
Like an ugly dream, like a shadow,
The past flashes before him.

A.S. Pushkin "Ruslan and Lyudmila"