It’s clear that the Soviet Union was going to die has long since. Circumstances can be called a lot of — authoritarian countries monocentrism decision-making, the country’s inability to meet the demands of the population, the continued gap in living standards of advanced countries of the West, and by the end, the bad samples of reforming the political and economic systems, which, in fact, led to the collapse of most .
We present to you photos of the last few months of the existence of the Union.
1. People get a cup in a shop in the center of Vilnius April 27, 1990 Despite the economic blockade of the Russian Union of Lithuania, on the day of its 10 stores in Vilnius smoothly received products and other people’s use. (AP Photo / Dusan Vranic)
2. Moms who have lost their own sons in the Red Army, standing on the Red Square with photos of their own beloved kids in Mon, December 24, 1990 at the walls of the Kremlin then protested about 200 parents whose sons were killed in the end meeetnicheskogo violence in the military. For 1990 in the Soviet Union lost about 6,000 troops. (AP Photo / Martin Cleaver)
3. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Manezh Square in Moscow March 10, 1991 with the requirements of abdication Misha Gorbachev and his communist allies. Weight totaled 500 thousand people, and it was the countless anti-government demonstration since the Communists came to power. (AP Photo / Dominique Mollard)
4. Mikhail Gorbachev, surrounded by his «comrades» in the weeks before they head putsch of August. Next to Gorbachev is vice-president of the USSR Gennady Yanayev, which will soon become the most prominent figure in the coup. In the photo — the leaders of the country on the holiday lighting of the fire on the tomb of the unknown soldier near the Kremlin in May 1991 (AFP / EPA / Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
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5. Russian tanks in the background of St. Basil’s Cathedral and Spassky Tower August 19, 1991 tanks drove through the city of Moscow up to the snow-white house where Boris Yeltsin gathered his supporters and signed a decree «On the illegality of actions coup.» (Dima Tanin / AFP /Getty Images)
6. Favorites of the August coup, left to right: Minister of the Interior USSR Boris Pugo, Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanayev, deputy chairman of the Defense Council Oleg Baklanov. They formed a Municipal Emergency Committee and tried to prevent the destruction of the Soviet Union. (Vitaly Armand / AFP / Getty Images)
7. Mass surrounded by armored personnel carriers, trying to block the road August 19, 1991 Military vehicles hit the streets of Moscow after it was announced that President Misha Gorbachev ousted from his post and was replaced by Gennady Janaev. (AP Photo / Boris Yurchenko)
8. Supporters of Boris Yeltsin’s barricades huge roll on the tube, August 19, 1991 (Anatoly Sapronyenkov / AFP / Getty Images)
9. Boris Yeltsin on a tank in front of the government building August 19, 1991 Yeltsin turned to the mass of followers with his statement about the illegality of actions coup. (Diane-Lu Hovasse / AFP / Getty Images)
10. Statement by the President of the USSR Gorbachev Misha August 20, 1991 on television. In it, he reports that the country is anti-constitutional coup, and his health is all right. (NBC TV / AFP /Getty Images)
11. A demonstrator attacks a Russian soldier near white houses on August 19 1991 On this day, the thousands of people in Moscow, Leningrad and other towns of the country began to build barricades Well the way of armored vehicles and troops. (Dima Tanin / AFP / Getty Images)
12. A protester talks with Russian fighter in the evening August 20, 1991 (Andre Durand / AFP / Getty Images)
13. Demonstrators playing guitars and talking with the men in front of a snow-white House 20 August 1991 g (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
14. The people at the barricades in front of a snow-white house August 21, 1991 (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
15. Soldier waving the tricolor with its own combat vehicle, while the rest of the military equipment leaves the boundaries of their own oppression after the coup, August 21, 1991 Favorite coup fled the capital or committed suicide. (Willy Slingerland / AFP / Getty Images)
16. Mass of cheering people outside the structure of government of the Russian Federation is happy ending coup on August 22 1991 g (AP Photo)
17. Celebrations in honor of trouble coup and in memory of those who died in August 1991 (AFP / EPA / Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
18. The demolition of the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square in Moscow on August 22, 1991 (Anatoly Sapronenkov / AFP /Getty Images)
19. Inhabitant of Baku ax chops a portrait of Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, September 21, 1991 Azerbaijan was declared the Russian Republic in 1920, and in 1991 the State Council of Azerbaijan voted for independence. (Anatoly Sapronenkov / AFP / Getty Images)
20. The lady put the bag on the discharge from the pedestal «hammer and sickle». December 25, 2011 was the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union. (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
21. Young Lithuanian sits on a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Vilnius on September 1, 1991 (Gerard Fouet / AFP / Getty Images)
22. Russian family looks appeal Soviet President Gorbachev Misha’s resignation December 25, 1991 Gorbachev’s reforms have given the inhabitants of the empire reddish freedom, but at the same time, led to its destruction. (AP Photo / Sergei Kharpukhin)
23. One recent evening, when a reddish flag flies over the Kremlin and Red Square, Saturday evening December 21, 1991. The flag was changed to Russian tricolor on the night of the New Year. (AP Photo / Gene Berman)