The rise of Yeltsin and the foundation of post-Soviet Russia

Yeltsin first rose to prominence in 1985 as an ally of Gorbachev, but he bristled at the slow pace of reform and soon found himself cast into the political wilderness. During his short time as the mayor of Moscow, however, Yeltsin won great popular acclaim as a champion of political and economic freedom. With Gorbachev’s introduction of democratic elections for the Soviet parliament, Yeltsin was returned to power with the overwhelming support of a Moscow constituency in 1989. The following year he was elected president of Russia over Gorbachev’s objections, and he immediately began advocating greater autonomy for the Russian republic. In anticipation of the passage of Gorbachev’s union treaty, Yeltsin set out to create an executive presidential system that would allow him to govern independently of parliament and the Communist Party hierarchies in republican and local government. He thus intended to correct the fatal error of Gorbachev, who had failed to forge an executive structure to implement the decisions of the U.S.S.R. Presidential Council and Security Council. Yeltsin’s executive powers rested on four pillars: the State Council, the Council of Ministers, the Council of the Federation and Territories, and the Security Council. The State Council bore the same name as the highest consultative body in Russia before 1917, a deliberate attempt to establish continuity with pre-Communist Russia.

Yeltsin’s team consisted of three groups: one made up of former party officials from Sverdlovsk, where Yeltsin had been party secretary; a second including Russian Premier Silayev, Yury Sokhov, state councillor and secretary of the Council of the Federation and Territories, Russian KGB head Viktor Ivanenko, and others, many of whom were from the military-industrial complex and skilled in running the system; and finally representatives of the democratic movement. After the coup a vigorous debate ensued as to whether Russia should spearhead reform in the union or go it alone and invite other republics to follow. By November the conflict had been resolved in favour of those who wanted Russia to lead the exit from the union.

The announcement of Yeltsin’s new team on November 7 (the 74th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution) revealed the new thinking. Following the U.S. example of vesting chief of state and chief of government powers in a single individual, Yeltsin was to act as his own prime minister. It was also stated that, mindful of Gorbachev’s fate, he would personally supervise the Defense and Interior ministries and the KGB. In addition, the bureaucracy was to be streamlined. Only 20 ministries, 3 state committees, and a state security committee were listed. There had been over 100 ministries in the U.S.S.R.

Independence movements and the dissolution of the Soviet Union

After the coup the republics moved rapidly to claim their independence. In a vain attempt to preserve its power, the Communist Party of Belarus led the rush by declaring independence on August 25, just 72 hours after Gorbachev’s return to Moscow. On August 27 the parliament and Grand National Assembly of Moldavia, renamed Moldova, proclaimed the republic’s independence and initiated the process of leaving the union. In September all three Baltic states formally left the Soviet Union and were admitted to the United Nations as the independent countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Georgia and Armenia each went their own way, and Kazakhstan and Kirgizia (renamed Kyrgyzstan) took control of their republics’ resources and began economic reform and privatization. The other Central Asian republics tended to support continued union, but they lacked the economic and political influence of their neighbours.

In November seven republics, including Russia, agreed to form a new “Union of Sovereign States,” but it remained a shell. On December 1 Ukraine voted overwhelmingly for independence, and, a week later, on December 8, representatives from the three Slavic republics—Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine—met in Brest, Belarus, and declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. They proclaimed the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an international association of sovereign countries whose administrative centre would be located in Minsk, Belarus.

On December 19 Yeltsin ordered the Russian government to assume all functions of the Soviet government except for defense and nuclear energy production. Two days later, the presidents of 11 of the 12 remaining republics met in Alma-Ata (now Almaty), Kazakhstan, to sign the foundation documents of the CIS. Georgia was not an initial signatory member, as the country was gripped by unrest that would eventually topple the Gamsakhurdia government in January 1992. All that remained was for Gorbachev to retire as gracefully as possible.

On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation of the presidency of the Soviet Union in a televised address. At 7:32 pm, less than a half hour after the conclusion of Gorbachev’s speech, the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered from outside the Kremlin for the final time. It was replaced by the prerevolutionary red, white, and blue tricolor of Russia. Russia succeeded to the U.S.S.R.’s permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and all Soviet embassies became Russian embassies. For six days, the Soviet Union continued to exist in name only, and at midnight on December 31, 1991, it was formally dissolved.