The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was a republic of the Soviet Union in 2012.
The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26 , 1991 .. Soviet Union. Soviet Union. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union .. Soviet Union. Soviet Union. Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States -LRB- CIS -RRB- , although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do it at all .. Soviet republics. Soviet republics. Commonwealth of Independent States. Commonwealth of Independent States. former Soviet republics. Post-Soviet states. On the previous day , Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev , the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union , resigned , declared his office extinct , and handed over its powers -- including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes -- to Russian President Boris Yeltsin .. Soviet Union. Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev. Mikhail Gorbachev. leader of the Soviet Union. leader of the Soviet Union. Soviet nuclear missile launching codes. Cheget. Russian President. President of Russia. Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7 :32 , the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag .. Soviet flag. Flag of the Soviet Union. Kremlin. Moscow Kremlin. Russian flag. Flag of Russia. Previously , from August to December , all the individual republics , including Russia itself , had seceded from the union .. The week before the union 's formal dissolution , 11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist .. Soviet Union. Soviet Union. Alma-Ata Protocol. Alma-Ata Protocol. Both the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War .. Revolutions of 1989. Revolutions of 1989. Cold War. Cold War. Several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with the Russian Federation and formed multilateral organizations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States , Eurasian Economic Community , the Union State , the Eurasian Customs Union , and the Eurasian Economic Union to enhance economic and security cooperation .. Soviet republics. Soviet republics. Commonwealth of Independent States. Commonwealth of Independent States. former Soviet republics. Post-Soviet states. Russian Federation. Russia. Eurasian Economic Community. Eurasian Economic Community. Union State. Union State. Eurasian Customs Union. Eurasian Customs Union. Eurasian Economic Union. Eurasian Economic Union. On the other hand , only the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union .. Baltic states. Baltic states. NATO. NATO. European Union. European Union