The USSR
Comes to an End
uOn August 24 Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Communist Party.
uIn November of 1991 Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Communist Party, making it defunct within the borders of Russia.
uBetween August 20 and August 31, eight republics
(Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine,
Belorussia, Moldavia, Kirgizia Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan joined Lithuania and Georgia in declaring
their independence.
uThe Tajik,
Armenian, and Turkmen republics followed in September and October, leaving only Russia and
Kazakhstan, legally
speaking, as members of the Soviet Union.