Dear compatriots! Fellow citizens! Due to the current situation with the formation of the Commonwealth Independent States I cease my activities as President of the USSR
Two days earlier, a meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin took place in the Kremlin, which lasted almost 10 hours. Technical procedures for the transition were discussed state power from the President of the Union to the Head of the RSFSR. In particular, the leaders agreed that on December 25 the nuclear codes (the so-called “nuclear suitcase”) would be handed over to Yeltsin. In addition, they talked about the archives of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the personal archive of the President of the USSR.
The leaders also agreed on the conditions for Gorbachev’s resignation: providing him with a pension, a dacha, vehicles, security, and premises for the Gorbachev Foundation. The President of the USSR pledged not to criticize the Russian authorities for six months.
On December 25, 1991, at about 5:00 pm, two telephone conversations Mikhail Gorbachev: with US President George W. Bush and German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
In a conversation with Bush, Gorbachev said that in two hours he would make a statement about his resignation as president of the USSR and expressed hope that Western countries would support the CIS and Russia.
In addition, Mikhail Gorbachev informed the US President that he was transferring the right to use nuclear weapons to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
So you can celebrate Christmas peacefully, sleep peacefully tonight. As for me, I am not going to hide in the taiga. I will remain in politics, in public life
- Gorbachev concluded.
Farewell to the President and lowering of the flag
At about 19:00, the Soviet president signed a decree on his resignation Supreme Commander-in-Chief The Armed Forces of the USSR and the abolition of the Defense Council under the President of the USSR.
At 19:00 Moscow time, Mikhail Gorbachev spoke in live Central Television and announced the termination of his activities as President of the USSR.
I firmly stood for independence, independence of peoples, for the sovereignty of republics. But at the same time, for the preservation of the union state, the integrity of the country. Events took a different path. The prevailing line was to dismember the country and disunite the state, which I cannot agree with
- Gorbachev said.
He complained that the decision to liquidate the USSR was made without taking into account the “popular will.” However, he immediately stated that he would do everything possible to ensure that the Alma-Ata agreements “led to real harmony in society and facilitated the exit from the crisis and the reform process.”
At 19:38, even before Gorbachev’s televised address ended, the USSR state flag was lowered from the flagpole of the Moscow Kremlin and the state flag was raised Russian Federation.
After completing his televised address, Gorbachev gave a brief interview to correspondents from the American television company CNN. Then, according to the agreement, the former head of the USSR prepared to hand over the “nuclear suitcase” to Boris Yeltsin. However, the Russian president did not attend the meeting because he was dissatisfied with the content of Gorbachev's television speech.
Yeltsin refused to accept nuclear codes in his office former president The USSR proposed to carry out this procedure in another room of the Kremlin, on “neutral territory” - in the Catherine Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Gorbachev did not agree with this option and handed over the “nuclear suitcase” to the commander of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov.
No other official ceremonies related to the termination of the activities of the President of the USSR were held. On the evening of December 25, a farewell dinner was held in the Kremlin’s Orekhovoy living room with the participation of several people from Gorbachev’s inner circle (adviser to the USSR President Alexander Yakovlev, chairman of the All-Union Television and Radio Company Yegor Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s assistant Anatoly Chernyaev, press secretary to the USSR President Andrei Grachev).
On December 26, 1991, the Council of Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration which stated that in connection with “the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the USSR as a state and a subject of international law ceases to exist.”
On December 27, 1991, Gorbachev was going to come to his office in the Kremlin for the last time to sort out papers and meet with Japanese journalists. But he failed to do this, since it turned out that the office was already occupied by Boris Yeltsin.
Post of President of the USSR
In February 1990, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev announced the need to establish the post of President of the USSR and abolish the provision of the Soviet Constitution on the leading role of the CPSU in the state. On March 14 of the same year, amendments were made to the Basic Law, according to which the one-party system was abolished and the post of president was established Soviet Union. On March 15, at the Third Congress of People's Deputies, Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR. 1 thousand 329 deputies voted for it, 495 voted “against” (out of 2 thousand 245).
Collapse of the USSR
Attempt at reform political system The USSR during the years of perestroika (1985-1991) led to an aggravation of all existing contradictions. The weakening of the power of the CPSU caused a sharp increase in separatism union republics. The first declaration of sovereignty was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR on November 16, 1988. In 1989, similar legal acts were adopted by Lithuania, Latvia and Azerbaijan, and during 1990, by the rest of the union republics, including the RSFSR (declaration of June 12, 1990). ). This process was called the “parade of sovereignties.”
In an attempt to overcome the disintegration processes, Mikhail Gorbachev proposed to the heads of the Union republics to conclude a new Union Treaty. The document provided for a new concept: each republic that was part of the Union received the status of a sovereign state. On December 24, at the IV Congress of People's Deputies, a decision was made to hold an all-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR. On March 17, 1991, 76.4% of voters were in favor of preserving the Union, 21.7% were against. Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia refused to participate in the plebiscite.
From April 23 to July 23, 1991, at the residence of the head of the USSR in Novo-Ogarevo, negotiations were held between Mikhail Gorbachev and the presidents of nine of the 15 union republics (RSFSR, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Azerbaijan, Tajik, Kyrgyz and Turkmen SSR) on creation of the Union of Sovereign States. The signing of the agreement was scheduled for August 20, but on the night of August 19, a group of senior leaders of the USSR formed State Committee under a state of emergency (GKChP).
Members of the State Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country and tried to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from power. Thus, they intended to prevent the signing of a new Union Treaty, which, in their opinion, would lead to the collapse of the USSR. However, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee did not dare to use force. On August 21, USSR Vice President Gennady Yanaev signed a decree dissolving the State Emergency Committee and invalidating all its decisions. On the same day, the President of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, issued a similar act, and the republic's prosecutor, Valentin Stepankov, ordered the arrest of its members.
After the failure of the State Emergency Committee, the union republics declared their independence (August 24 - Ukraine, 30 - Azerbaijan, 31 - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the rest - in September-December 1991). The political positions of the President of the USSR weakened. On August 24, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev dissolved the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
On September 2-5, 1991, the V Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR took place in Moscow ( supreme body authorities in the country). On the last day of the meetings, the law “On bodies of state power and administration of the USSR in the transition period” was adopted, according to which the congress dissolved itself and all state power was transferred to the Supreme Council of the USSR.
As a temporary body of the highest union administration “for the coordinated resolution of issues of internal and foreign policy“The State Council of the USSR was established, consisting of the President of the Soviet Union and the heads of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. At meetings of the State Council, discussions continued on the new union treaty.
On November 14, 1991, the State Council adopted a resolution on the liquidation of all ministries and other central authorities government controlled USSR since December 1, 1991. On the same day, the heads of seven union republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, RSFSR, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and the President of the USSR agreed to sign a new Union Treaty on December 9. According to him, the Union of Sovereign States was supposed to be established as a “confederal Democratic state" This plan was not implemented.
"Belovezhskaya Agreement" and the Alma-Ata Declaration
On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich at the government residence of Viskuli (Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus) signed an Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the dissolution of the USSR. The document was ratified on December 10 Supreme Councils Ukraine and Belarus; on December 12, the Russian parliament adopted a similar act.
On December 10, a meeting of the Coordination Council under the President of the USSR was held, during which Mikhail Gorbachev’s advisers declared the futility of forceful opposition to the republics. In particular, the head of the USSR Central Intelligence Service, Yevgeny Primakov, stated that “you can’t rely on the army, international forces will interact with Russia, with the republics.” The same position was taken by the commanders of the Soviet army units, convened by Gorbachev on the same day for a meeting in Moscow (500 people from all branches of the military, starting with division commanders, took part).
On December 21, 1991, in Almaty (Kazakhstan), 11 leaders of the former Soviet republics signed a declaration on the goals and basic principles of the CIS. The Declaration confirmed the Bialowieza Agreement, indicating that with the formation of the CIS, the USSR ceases to exist.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born into a peasant family in the Stavropol region. During my school years I worked part-time on a collective farm. Work did not prevent him from graduating from school with a silver medal and entering Moscow State University. Having graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law, Gorbachev soon received the position of deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol. A few years later, he promoted to the position of first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, and later - first secretary of the Stavropol regional committee of the CPSU. In 1978, he was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and 10 years later he took the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Mikhail Gorbachev became the first and last president THE USSR.
This position was created on March 15, 1990 and abolished on December 25, 1991. Even before taking office, Gorbachev launched the policy of perestroika. A number of reforms were supposed to accelerate the country's socio-economic development. Reform plans were developed back in 1983-1984 on behalf of the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov. Gorbachev spoke about the need for reforms in 1985 at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. “Apparently, comrades, we all need to rebuild. Everyone,” he noted then, and two years later he moved on to implementing his plans.
The goal of the reforms was to democratize the socio-political and economic system that had developed in the USSR. By 2000 it was planned to double economic potential THE USSR. One of important elements perestroika was the introduction of the glasnost policy - now negative sides the life of society was openly covered. Creativity became freer, and many previously prohibited works were published.
However, by 1989, changes were beyond the control of the authorities.
Economic growth slowed down, and in 1990 it completely gave way to a decline. The standard of living of the population fell sharply, the USSR was gripped by poverty, unemployment and shortages of goods. Not knowing what to expect from the future, people went abroad.
By 1991, private property was legalized in the USSR and currency and stock markets were formed; the philosophy of foreign policy was reduced to unilateral concessions to Western countries. Union and autonomous republics, one after another, declared their independence. They no longer paid taxes to the union and federal budgets, which further undermined the economy of the USSR. Gold reserves, which in 1985 amounted to 2,500 tons, decreased to 240, external debt increased from $31 billion to $70 billion (according to other sources, from $25 billion to $104 billion), the ruble to dollar exchange rate increased almost 150 times.
A few days earlier, Gorbachev met with Boris Yeltsin to discuss some aspects of the transfer of power.
On December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev made a televised speech announcing his resignation.
“Dear compatriots, fellow citizens,” he said, pausing between words. — Due to the current situation with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I am ceasing my activities as President of the USSR. I make this decision for reasons of principle... I firmly stood for the independence of peoples, for the sovereignty of the republics. But at the same time, for the preservation of the union state, the integrity of the country. Events took a different path. The prevailing line was to dismember the country and disunite the state, which I cannot agree with.
I leave my post with anxiety, but also with hope.
With faith in you, in your wisdom and fortitude. I wish you all the best."
The recording shows how worried Gorbachev is, and you can hear his voice trembling. After he has said this, he sits silently for several seconds, now looking at the camera, now turning away. Then he collects the papers laid out on the table in front of him and takes off his glasses.
On the same day, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR decided to rename the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Russian Federation.
“Shortly before the start, I came to Mikhail Sergeevich’s office. He was upset, but at the same time so focused,” recalled the chief director of the “Time” program, Kaleria Kislova.
“I made one mistake. We had to go all the way,”
- Gorbachev said later in one of the documentaries about the collapse of the USSR.
The next day, the news of Gorbachev's resignation from the presidency filled the headlines of many newspapers.
“Gorbachev is leaving. But the trace he left in the chronicle of the world does not disappear,” Pravda wrote.
Gorbachev is now president of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research. In 2008, in an interview with television journalist Vladimir Pozner, he said: “But I’ll tell you: we all made mistakes three more times. We were late in reforming the party. Secondly, we are late in reforming the Union. And third... When things got tight here, especially after 1989, in 1990 - when the whole country was in queues and we didn’t have enough goods to satisfy these requests, when we could get broken in line for Italian shoes... It was necessary find $10-15 billion. They could be found...” Also in other television appearances, he insisted that perestroika had won and democratic reforms began during his reign.
Mikhail Gorbachev received about 70 various awards, orders and prizes, including - Nobel Prize peace in recognition of his “leading role in the peace process, which today characterizes an important component life of the international community."
From the statement of the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev's resignation
“The process of renewal of the country and fundamental changes in the world community turned out to be much more complex than one might have expected. However, what has been done must be appreciated.
Society gained freedom and became liberated politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not yet fully realized, and because we have not yet learned to use freedom. Nevertheless, work of historical significance has been done:
The totalitarian system, which deprived the country of the opportunity to become prosperous and prosperous for a long time, has been eliminated.
A breakthrough has been made on the path of democratic transformation. Free elections, freedom of the press, religious freedoms, representative bodies of government, and a multi-party system have become real.
A movement towards a multi-structure economy has begun, and equality of all forms of property is being established. Within land reform The peasantry began to revive, farming appeared, millions of hectares of land were given to rural residents and city dwellers. The economic freedom of the producer was legalized, and entrepreneurship, corporatization, and privatization began to gain strength.
When turning the economy towards the market, it is important to remember that this is being done for the sake of people. In this difficult time, everything must be done for his social protection, especially for the elderly and children.
We live in a new world:
Done with " cold war", the arms race and the insane militarization of the country, which has disfigured our economy, have been stopped, public consciousness and morality. The threat of world war has been lifted.
Once again, I want to emphasize that during the transition period, everything was done on my part to maintain reliable control over nuclear weapons.
We opened up to the world, refused to interfere in other people's affairs, and from using troops outside the country. And they responded to us with trust, solidarity and respect.
We have become one of the main strongholds for the reconstruction of modern civilization on a peaceful, democratic basis. Peoples and nations received real freedom to choose the path of their self-determination. The search for democratic reform of a multinational state has brought us to the threshold of concluding a new Union Treaty. All these changes required enormous effort, took place in a bitter struggle, with growing resistance from the forces of the old, outdated, reactionary - and the former party-state structures, and the economic apparatus, and our habits, ideological prejudices, egalitarian and dependent psychology. They encountered our intolerance, low level of political culture, and fear of change. That's why we lost a lot of time. The old system collapsed before the new one could work. And the crisis of society worsened even more.
I am aware of the dissatisfaction with the current difficult situation, the sharp criticism of the authorities at all levels and of my personal activities. But I would like to emphasize once again: radical changes in such a huge country, and even with such a heritage, cannot take place painlessly, without difficulties and shocks.”
“Dear compatriots! Fellow citizens! Due to the current situation with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I am ceasing my activities as President of the USSR” - these were the words that began Mikhail Gorbachev’s televised address on December 25, 1991.
Two days earlier, a meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin took place in the Kremlin, which lasted almost 10 hours. The technical procedures for the transfer of state power from the President of the Union to the head of the RSFSR were discussed. In particular, the leaders agreed that on December 25 the nuclear codes (the so-called “nuclear suitcase”) would be handed over to Yeltsin. In addition, they talked about the archives of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the personal archive of the President of the USSR.
The leaders also agreed on the conditions for Gorbachev's resignation: providing him with a pension, a dacha, vehicles, security, and premises for the Gorbachev Foundation. The President of the USSR pledged not to criticize the Russian authorities for six months.
On December 25, 1991, at about 17:00, Mikhail Gorbachev had two telephone conversations: with US President George W. Bush and German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
You can celebrate Christmas peacefully and sleep peacefully this night. As for me, I am not going to hide in the taiga. I will remain in politics, in public life
Mikhail Gorbachev
In a conversation with Bush, Gorbachev said that in two hours he would make a statement about his resignation as president of the USSR and expressed hope that Western countries would support the CIS and Russia.
In addition, Mikhail Gorbachev informed the US President that he was transferring the right to use nuclear weapons to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. “So you can celebrate Christmas peacefully, sleep peacefully this night. As for me, I am not going to hide in the taiga. I will remain in politics, in public life,” Gorbachev concluded.
Farewell to the President and lowering of the flag
At about 19:00, the Soviet president signed a decree resigning from the powers of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR and abolishing the Defense Council under the President of the USSR.
At 19:00 Moscow time, Mikhail Gorbachev spoke live on Central Television and announced the termination of his activities as President of the USSR. “I firmly stood for independence, independence of peoples, for the sovereignty of the republics. But at the same time, for the preservation of the union state, the integrity of the country. Events took a different path. The line of dismemberment of the country and disunion of the state prevailed, which I cannot agree with,” he said to Gorbachev.
He complained that the decision to liquidate the USSR was made without taking into account the “popular will.” However, he immediately stated that he would do everything possible to ensure that the Alma-Ata agreements “led to real harmony in society and facilitated the way out of the crisis and the reform process.”
At 19:38, even before Gorbachev's televised address ended, the state flag of the USSR was lowered from the flagpole of the Moscow Kremlin and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised.
After completing his televised address, Gorbachev gave a short interview to correspondents from the American television company CNN. Then, according to the agreement, the former head of the USSR prepared to hand over the “nuclear suitcase” to Boris Yeltsin. However, the Russian president did not attend the meeting because he was dissatisfied with the content of Gorbachev's television speech.
Yeltsin refused to accept nuclear codes in the office of the former President of the USSR and proposed to carry out this procedure in another building of the Kremlin, on “neutral territory” - in the Catherine Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Gorbachev did not agree with this option and handed over the “nuclear suitcase” to the commander of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov.
On December 27, Gorbachev planned to come to his office in the Kremlin for the last time to sort out papers and meet with Japanese journalists. But he failed to do this - Boris Yeltsin had already occupied the office
No other official ceremonies related to the termination of the activities of the President of the USSR were held. On the evening of December 25, a farewell dinner was held in the Kremlin’s Orekhovoy living room with the participation of several people from Gorbachev’s inner circle (adviser to the USSR President Alexander Yakovlev, chairman of the All-Union Television and Radio Company Yegor Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s assistant Anatoly Chernyaev, press secretary to the USSR President Andrei Grachev).
On December 26, 1991, the Council of Republics of the Supreme Council of the USSR adopted a declaration which stated that in connection with the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the USSR as a state and a subject of international law ceases to exist.
On December 27, 1991, Gorbachev was going to come to his office in the Kremlin for the last time to sort out papers and meet with Japanese journalists. But he failed to do this, since it turned out that the office was already occupied by Boris Yeltsin.
Post of President of the USSR
In February 1990, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev announced the need to establish the post of President of the USSR and abolish the provision of the Soviet Constitution on the leading role of the CPSU in the state. On March 14 of the same year, amendments were made to the Basic Law, according to which the one-party system was abolished and the post of President of the Soviet Union was established. On March 15, at the Third Congress of People's Deputies, Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR. 1 thousand 329 deputies voted for him, 495 voted “against” (out of 2 thousand 245).
Collapse of the USSR
An attempt to reform the political system of the USSR during the years of perestroika (1985-1991) led to an aggravation of all existing contradictions. The weakening of the power of the CPSU caused a sharp increase in separatism in the union republics. The first declaration of sovereignty was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR on November 16, 1988. In 1989, similar legal acts were adopted by Lithuania, Latvia and Azerbaijan, and during 1990 - by the rest of the union republics, including the RSFSR (declaration of June 12, 1990). ). This process was called the “parade of sovereignties.”
"Chronicle of the collapse of the USSR"
In an attempt to overcome the disintegration processes, Mikhail Gorbachev proposed to the heads of the Union republics to conclude a new Union Treaty. The document provided for a new concept: each republic that was part of the Union received the status of a sovereign state. On December 24, at the IV Congress of People's Deputies, a decision was made to hold an all-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR. On March 17, 1991, 76.4% of voters were in favor of preserving the Union, 21.7% were against. Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia refused to participate in the plebiscite.
From April 23 to July 23, 1991, at the residence of the head of the USSR in Novo-Ogarevo, negotiations were held between Mikhail Gorbachev and the presidents of nine of the 15 union republics (RSFSR, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Azerbaijan, Tajik, Kyrgyz and Turkmen SSR) on creation of the Union of Sovereign States. The signing of the agreement was scheduled for August 20, but on the night of August 19, a group of senior leaders of the USSR formed the State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP).
Members of the State Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country and tried to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from power. Thus, they intended to prevent the signing of a new Union Treaty, which, in their opinion, would lead to the collapse of the USSR. However, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee did not dare to use force. On August 21, USSR Vice President Gennady Yanaev signed a decree dissolving the State Emergency Committee and invalidating all its decisions. On the same day, the President of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, issued a similar act, and the republic's prosecutor, Valentin Stepankov, ordered the arrest of its members.
After the failure of the Emergency Committee, the union republics declared their independence (August 24 - Ukraine, 30 - Azerbaijan, 31 - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the rest - in September-December 1991). The political positions of the President of the USSR weakened. On August 24, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev dissolved the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
On September 2-5, 1991, the V Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (the highest authority in the country) took place in Moscow. On the last day of the meetings, the law “On Bodies of State Power and Administration of the USSR in the Transitional Period” was adopted, according to which the congress dissolved itself and all state power was transferred to the Supreme Council of the USSR.
The State Council of the USSR was established as a temporary body of the highest union administration "for the coordinated resolution of issues of domestic and foreign policy" consisting of the President of the Soviet Union and the heads of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. At meetings of the State Council, discussions continued on the new union treaty.
On November 14, 1991, the State Council adopted a resolution on the liquidation of all ministries and other central government bodies of the USSR from December 1, 1991. On the same day, the heads of seven union republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, RSFSR, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and the president The USSR agreed to sign a new Union Treaty on December 9. According to it, the Union of Sovereign States was supposed to be established as a “confederal democratic state.” This plan was not implemented.
"Belovezhskaya Agreement" and the Alma-Ata Declaration
On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich at the government residence of Viskuli (Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus) signed an Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the dissolution of the USSR. On December 10, the document was ratified by the Supreme Councils of Ukraine and Belarus, and on December 12, a similar act was adopted by the Russian parliament.
On December 10, a meeting of the Coordination Council under the President of the USSR was held, during which Mikhail Gorbachev’s advisers declared the futility of forceful opposition to the republics. In particular, the head of the USSR Central Intelligence Service, Yevgeny Primakov, stated that “you can’t rely on the army, international forces will interact with Russia, with the republics.” The same position was taken by the commanders of the Soviet army units, convened by Gorbachev on the same day for a meeting in Moscow (500 people from all branches of the military, starting with division commanders, took part).
On December 21, 1991, in Almaty (Kazakhstan), 11 leaders of the former Soviet republics signed a declaration on the goals and basic principles of the CIS. The Declaration confirmed the Bialowieza Agreement, indicating that with the formation of the CIS, the USSR ceases to exist.
Based on materials from TASS-Dossier
Around 17:00, two telephone conversations took place between the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev: with US President George W. Bush and German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
In a conversation with George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev said that in two hours he would make a statement about his resignation as president of the USSR. Gorbachev expressed hope that the countries of Europe and the United States will support the newly created CIS as an interstate entity, and will also support Russia through joint efforts.
Mikhail Gorbachev also informed the US President that he was transferring the right to use nuclear weapons to the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin. “So you can celebrate Christmas peacefully, sleep peacefully this night. As for me, I am not going to hide in the taiga. I will remain in politics, in public life,” Gorbachev concluded.
In response, George Bush assured that America would remain interested in Russian affairs. "You will welcome guest, we will be glad to receive you after everything settles down,” Bush promised Gorbachev.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher thanked Mikhail Gorbachev for his contribution to the unification of Germany: “The hearts and gratitude of the Germans will forever remain with you.” Mikhail Gorbachev assured the minister that he would continue to promote rapprochement between East and West.
At about 19:00, Gorbachev signed a decree “On the resignation by the President of the USSR of the powers of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR and the abolition of the Defense Council under the President of the USSR.”
At 19:00, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev made a statement of resignation on central television.
“Due to the current situation with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I am ceasing my activities as President of the USSR. I am making this decision for reasons of principle. I firmly stood for the independence of peoples, for the sovereignty of the republics. But at the same time, for the preservation of the union state, the integrity of the country. "Events took a different path. The line of dismembering the country and disuniting the state prevailed, which I cannot agree with," the statement said.
Next, Mikhail Gorbachev gave his assessment of the path traveled as first the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and then the President of the USSR since 1985 and thanked all citizens who supported his policy of renewal and democratic reforms.
At 19:38, the state flag of the USSR was lowered from the Kremlin flagpole and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised.
After the televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev gave a short interview and returned to his office in the Kremlin to hand over the nuclear codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The farewell meeting between them did not take place. Gorbachev was met by USSR Defense Minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov. Yeltsin, dissatisfied with the contents last speech Gorbachev, refused to accept nuclear codes in the former president’s office and proposed carrying out this procedure in another Kremlin building, on “neutral territory.” But Mikhail Gorbachev did not agree with this proposal and, without any television cameras, transferred two colonels to Shaposhnikov’s command, who always and everywhere accompanied the head of state, being responsible for the “nuclear briefcase.”
There were no other procedures for seeing off the President of the USSR.
The last farewell dinner was held in the Orekhovoy drawing room, surrounded by five people from Mikhail Gorbachev’s close circle.
On the same day, US President George W. Bush announced the United States' official recognition of the independence of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
(Additional