| Thirty years on, the dissolution of the USSR is not yet complete

Le Regard Libre N° 81 - Clément Guntern

In the West, the announcement of the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) marked a decisive turning point. The Cold War was won by a landslide, and the ghost of Politburo domination vanished once and for all. But what really happened?

Let’s go back 30 years, to Christmas Day 1991. The president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Mikhail Gorbachev, addressed the nation on television. For several years already, the ground had been shifting beneath the feet of the Soviet leadership. Following the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the succession of declarations of independence by the former Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR existed in name only. In front of the cameras, Gorbachev announced in a serious but calm tone the dissolution of his own office