History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)
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The history of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 covers the dissolution of the Soviet Union. ("Dissolution" means ending or splitting up.) This was its end as a separate country.
The Soviet Union had many regions called "republics". They all belonged to the Russian Empire before 1917. All these "republics" were part of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was one country. After its dissolution, all of the republics became independent countries. The names of these countries are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Russia is a special case, because it still has a number of former republics inside its borders. That is why the country is called the Russian Federation. There are eight Federal Districts and 83 Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation. Siberia, for example, has two huge federal districts.
The Soviet Union ended with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. At the time of dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union. He was in this position for a little over a year but he was leader of the Soviet Union from March 11th 1985. On 25 December 1991, he quit the post of the president of the USSR. By 31 December 1991, all organizations and departments of the Soviet Union stopped working. On that date, the Soviet flag flew for the last time on the Kremlin.