who was the head of the soviet union when it collapsed
Dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26, 1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.[1] The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. 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. 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.[2]
Dissolution of the Soviet Union The Baltic republics, forcibly reincorporated into the Soviet Union in 1944,[13] pressed for independence, beginning with Estonia in November 1988 when the Estonian legislature passed laws resisting the control of the central government.[14] While Gorbachev had loosened Soviet control over Eastern Europe, he had made it known that Baltic separatism would not be tolerated and be met with embargoes and force if need be, as there was a tacit agreement in the Politboro of the infeasibility of using force to keep Poland and Czechoslovakia communist, but said loss of power would not extend into the USSR itself.[15]