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Events on Wednesday 25 December 1991 3
1985 – 1991Gorbachev in powerGlasnost, Perestroika and the collapse of the USSR — 1985 to 1991Gorbachev became Soviet leader on March 11, 1985 and resigned on December 25, 1991, the day the Soviet Union was dissolved. His reforms of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) inadvertently unleashed forces that ended the Cold War and dissolved the USSR.
1991Soviet Union dissolvedGorbachev resigns — December 25, 1991Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. The USSR was formally dissolved and replaced by 15 independent states. It was the end of a 69-year experiment in communism.
1991USSR dissolvesCold War endsOn December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union formally dissolved into 15 independent states, ending the Cold War and changing the global order.