Russia

====Perestroika, democratization and Russian sovereignty====
From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], who sought to enact liberal reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of ''[[glasnost]]'' (openness) and ''[[perestroika]]'' (restructuring) in an attempt to end the [[Era of Stagnation|period of economic stagnation]] and to [[Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)|democratise the government]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McForan |first=D. W. J. |title=Glasnost, Democracy, and Perestroika |jstor=41881835 |journal= International Social Science Review |volume=63 |year=1988 |number=4 |pages=165–174 |publisher=[[Pi Gamma Mu]]}}</ref> This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements across the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Beissinger |first=Mark R. |url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |title=Nationalism and the Collapse of Soviet Communism |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |journal=[[Contemporary European History]] |volume=18 |number=3 |pages=331–347 |date=August 2009 |doi=10.1017/S0960777309005074 |access-date=25 June 2021 |jstor=40542830 |s2cid=46642309 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224060339/https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the world's second-largest, but during its final years, it went into a crisis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shleifer |first1=Andrei |last2=Vishny |first2=Robert W. |title=Reversing the Soviet Economic Collapse |year=1991 |pages=341–360 |journal=[[Brookings Papers on Economic Activity]] |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] |volume=1991 |number=2 |doi=10.2307/2534597 |jstor=2534597 |s2cid=153551739 |url=http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331081228/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the [[Baltic states]] chose to secede from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dahlburg |first1=John-Thor |last2=Marshall |first2=Tyler |title=Independence for Baltic States: Freedom: Moscow formally recognizes Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, ending half a century of control. Soviets to begin talks soon on new relationships with the three nations |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 September 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603043522/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html?_amp=true |archive-date=3 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 17 March, a [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum]] was held, in which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a [[Union of Sovereign States|renewed federation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |title=Vote Backs Gorbachev but Not Convincingly: Soviet Union: His plan to preserve federal unity is supported—but so is Yeltsin's for a Russian presidency. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |first=Michael |last=Parks |date=19 March 1991 |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331100735/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1991, [[Boris Yeltsin]] became the first directly elected [[President of Russia|president]] in Russian history when he was [[1991 Russian presidential election|elected]] president of the Russian SFSR.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |title=Yeltsin Elected President of Russia |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |first=David |last=Remnick |date=14 June 1991 |access-date=6 June 2021 |archive-date=30 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130025538/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1991, [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|a coup d'état attempt]] by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gibson |first=James L. |title=Mass Opposition to the Soviet Putsch of August 1991: Collective Action, Rational Choice, and Democratic Values in the Former Soviet Union |journal=The American Political Science Review |publisher=[[American Political Science Association]] |date=September 1997 |volume=97 |number=3 |pages=671–684 |doi=10.2307/2952082 |jstor=2952082|s2cid=145141360 }}</ref> On 25 December 1991, following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], along with contemporary Russia, fourteen other [[post-Soviet states]] emerged.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |title=The Undoing Of The U.S.S.R.: How It Happened |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |last=Foltynova |first=Kristyna |date=1 October 2021 |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=13 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413175407/https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |url-status=live }}</ref>