The Break-Up of the Soviet Union
The Presidents of the Soviet Republics of Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia met and signed a treaty which ended 70 years of Soviet communism. Hear from two of those leaders
In December 1991 the leaders of three Soviet Republics - Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia - signed a treaty dissolving the USSR. They did it without asking the other republics, and against the wishes of the USSR's overall President Mikhail Gorbachev. By the end of the year Gorbachev had resigned and the Soviet Union was no more. Dina Newman has spoken to the former President of Belorussia, Stanislav Shushkevich, and the former President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, who signed that historic document alongside Boris Yeltsin.
Photo: the leader of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, the leader of Belorussia, Stanislav Shushkevich and the leader of Russia, Boris Yeltsin at the signing ceremony. Credit: AP
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- Boxing Day 2016 08:50GMT大象传媒 World Service except News Internet
- Boxing Day 2016 13:50GMT大象传媒 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
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