Editing History of Russia (section)

==Soviet Union (1922–1991)==
{{Main|Soviet Union|History of the Soviet Union}}

===Creation of the Soviet Union===
[[File:19191107-lenin second anniversary october revolution moscow.jpg|thumb|left|[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]] and [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]] celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution]]
[[File:Lenin and stalin crop.jpg|thumb|Lenin and Stalin at [[Gorki Leninskiye|Gorki]] (1922)]]

The [[Soviet Union]], established in December 1922 by the leaders of the Russian Communist Party,<ref>"[http://library.thinkquest.org/27629/themes/society/rsussr.html Tsar Killed, USSR Formed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019221033/http://library.thinkquest.org/27629/themes/society/rsussr.html |date=19 October 2012 }}," in ''20th Century Russia''. Retrieved 21 July 2007.</ref> was roughly coterminous with Russia before the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. At that time, the new nation included four constituent republics: the [[Russian SFSR]], the [[Ukrainian SSR]], the [[Belarusian SSR]], and the [[Transcaucasian SFSR]].<ref>Soviet Union Information Bureau, [http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/ch01.htm Area and Population] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903221828/https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/ch01.htm |date=3 September 2017 }}. Retrieved 21 July 2007.</ref>

The constitution, adopted in 1924, established a federal system of government based on a pyramid of soviets in each constituent republic which culminated in the All-Union Congress of Soviets. However, while it appeared that the congress exercised sovereign power, this body was actually governed by the Communist Party, which in turn was controlled by the [[Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee|Politburo]] from Moscow.

===War Communism and the New Economic Policy===
{{See also|Hyperinflation in early Soviet Russia}}
The period from the consolidation of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 until 1921 is known as the period of [[war communism]].<ref name="Richman">{{cite journal|last=Richman|first=Sheldon L.|year=1981|title=War Communism to NEP: The Road to Serfdom|url=https://www.mises.org/journals/jls/5_1/5_1_5.pdf|journal=The Journal of Libertarian Studies|volume=5|issue=1|pages=89–97|access-date=3 October 2014|archive-date=14 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914003928/http://mises.org/journals/jls/5_1/5_1_5.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Land, all industry, and small businesses were [[Nationalization|nationalized]], and the money economy was restricted. Strong opposition soon developed.<ref name="Richman"/> The peasants wanted cash payments for their products and resented having to surrender their surplus grain to the government as a part of its civil war policies. Confronted with peasant opposition, Lenin began a strategic retreat from war communism known as the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP).<ref name="Richman"/> The peasants were freed from wholesale levies of grain and allowed to sell their surplus produce in the open market. Commerce was stimulated by permitting private retail trading. The state continued to be responsible for banking, transportation, heavy industry, and public utilities.

Although the left opposition among the Communists criticized the rich peasants, or [[kulak]]s, who benefited from the NEP, the program proved highly beneficial and the economy revived.<ref name="Richman"/> The NEP would later come under increasing opposition from within the party following Lenin's death in early 1924.<ref name="Richman"/>

===Changes to Russian society===
{{Main|Cultural Revolution in the Soviet Union}}
[[File:8marta.jpg|thumb|Soviet poster from 1932 symbolizing the reform of "old ways of life", dedicated to liberation of women from traditional roles]]

As the Russian Empire included during this period not only the region of Russia, but also today's territories of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Moldavia and the Caucasian and Central Asian countries, it is possible to examine the firm formation process in all those regions. One of the main determinants of firm creation for given regions of Russian Empire might be urban demand of goods and supply of industrial and organizational skill.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Baten|first1=Jörg|last2=Behle|first2=Dominic|year=2010|title=Regional Determinants of Firm Creation in the Russian Empire. Evidence from the 1870 Industrial Exhibition|journal=Russian Economic History Yearbook|volume=01|via=ResearchGate}}</ref>

While the Russian economy was being transformed, the social life of the people underwent equally drastic changes. The Family Code of 1918 granted women equal status to men, and permitted a couple to take either the husband or wife's name.<ref>{{cite web|title=Women and the Russian Revolution|url=https://www.bl.uk/russian-revolution/articles/women-and-the-russian-revolution|last=McElvanney|first=Katie|website=British Library|access-date=11 May 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801145838/https://www.bl.uk/russian-revolution/articles/women-and-the-russian-revolution|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Divorce]] no longer required court procedure,<ref name="pushkareva">{{cite web|url=http://www.iisg.nl/~womhist/pushkareva.doc|title=Marriage in Twentieth Century Russia: Traditional Precepts and Innovative Experiments|access-date=23 July 2007|last=Pushkareva|first=Natalia|format=.doc|publisher=Russian Academy of Sciences|archive-date=26 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726224821/http://www.iisg.nl/%7Ewomhist/pushkareva.doc|url-status=live}}</ref>
and to make women completely free of the responsibilities of childbearing, abortion was made legal as early as 1920.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Remennick | first1 = Larissa | year = 1991 | title = Epidemiology and Determinants of Induced Abortion in the USSR | journal=Soc. Sci. Med. | volume = 33 | issue = 7| pages = 841–848 | doi = 10.1016/0277-9536(91)90389-T | pmid = 1948176 }}</ref> As a side effect, the emancipation of women increased the labor market. Girls were encouraged to secure an education and pursue a career. Communal nurseries were set up for child care, and efforts were made to shift the center of people's social life from the home to educational and recreational groups, the soviet clubs.

The Soviet government pursued a policy of eliminating illiteracy ([[Likbez]]). After industrialization, massive [[urbanization]] began. In the field of national policy in the 1920s, the [[Korenizatsiya]] was carried out. However, from the mid-30s, the Stalinist government returned to the tsarist policy of [[Russification]] of the outskirts. In particular, the languages of all the nations of the USSR were transcribed into the Cyrillic alphabet in the process known as [[Cyrillization]].

===Industrialization and collectivization===
{{Further|Industrialization in the Soviet Union|Collectivization in the Soviet Union}}
The years from 1929 to 1939 comprised a tumultuous decade in Soviet history—a period of massive industrialization and internal struggles as [[Joseph Stalin]] established near total control over Soviet society, wielding virtually unrestrained power. Following Lenin's death Stalin wrestled to gain control of the Soviet Union with rival factions in the Politburo, especially [[Leon Trotsky]]'s. By 1928, with the [[Trotskyist]]s either exiled or rendered powerless, Stalin was ready to put a radical programme of industrialisation into action.<ref name=Deutscbher>I. Deutscher, ''Stalin: A Political Biography'', Oxford University Press, 1949, pp. 294–344.</ref>
[[File:Famine en URSS 1933.jpg|thumb|The [[Soviet famine of 1932–1933]], with areas where the effects of famine were most severe shaded]]
In 1929, Stalin proposed the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|first five-year plan]].<ref name="Richman"/> Abolishing the NEP, it was the first of a number of plans aimed at swift accumulation of capital resources through the buildup of heavy industry, the [[Collectivisation in the USSR|collectivization of agriculture]], and the restricted manufacture of [[consumer goods in the Soviet Union|consumer goods]].<ref name="Richman"/> For the first time in history a government controlled all economic activity. The rapid growth of production capacity and the volume of production of heavy industry was of great importance for ensuring economic independence from western countries and strengthening the country's defense capability. At this time, the Soviet Union made the transition from an agrarian country to an industrial one.

As a part of the plan, the government took control of agriculture through the state and collective farms (''[[kolkhoz]]es'').<ref name="conquest-coll">[[Conquest, Robert]]. ''[[The Harvest of Sorrow]]: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. {{ISBN|0-19-505180-7}}.</ref> By a decree of February 1930, about one million individual peasants (''[[kulaks]]'') were forced off their land. Many peasants strongly opposed regimentation by the state, often slaughtering their herds when faced with the loss of their land. In some sections they revolted, and countless peasants deemed "kulaks" by the authorities were executed.<ref>[[Lynne Viola|Viola, Lynne]]. ''Peasant Rebels under Stalin. Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance''. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-513104-5}}.</ref> The combination of bad weather, deficiencies of the hastily established collective farms, and massive confiscation of grain precipitated a serious famine,<ref name="conquest-coll"/> and several million peasants [[Soviet famine of 1932-1934|died of starvation]], [[Holodomor|mostly in Ukraine]], [[Famine in Kazakhstan of 1932–33|Kazakhstan]] and parts of southwestern Russia.<ref name="conquest-coll"/> The deteriorating conditions in the countryside drove millions of desperate peasants to the rapidly growing cities, fueling industrialization, and vastly increasing Russia's urban population.

===Stalinist repression===
{{Further|Great Purges}}
[[File:5marshals 01.jpg|thumb|left|The first five [[Marshals of the Soviet Union]] in November 1935, clockwise from top left: [[Semyon Budyonny]], [[Vasily Blyukher]], [[Alexander Ilyich Yegorov]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]], and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]]. Only Budyonny and Voroshilov would survive Stalin's [[Great Purge]].]]
The [[NKVD]] gathered in tens of thousands of Soviet citizens to face arrest, [[population transfer in the Soviet Union|deportation]], or execution. Of the six original members of the 1920 Politburo who survived Lenin, all were purged by Stalin. Old Bolsheviks who had been loyal comrades of Lenin, high officers in the Red Army, and directors of industry were liquidated in the [[Great Purges]].<ref name="conquest-terror">[[Conquest, Robert]]. ''[[The Great Terror: A Reassessment]]''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-19-507132-8}}.</ref> Purges in other Soviet republics also helped centralize control in the USSR.

Stalin destroyed the opposition in the party consisting of the old Bolsheviks during the [[Moscow trials]]. The NKVD under the leadership of Stalin's commissar [[Nikolai Yezhov]] carried out a series of [[Mass operations of the NKVD|massive repressive operations]] against the kulaks and various national minorities in the USSR. During the Great Purges of 1937–38, about 700,000 people were executed.

Penalties were introduced, and many citizens were prosecuted for fictitious crimes of sabotage and espionage. The labor provided by convicts working in the [[labor camp]]s of the [[Gulag]] system became an important component of the industrialization effort, especially in [[Siberia]].<ref name="forcedlabor">Gregory, Paul R. & Valery Lazarev (eds.). ''The Economics of Forced Labor: The Soviet Gulag''. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8179-3942-3}}.</ref><ref name="ivanova">Ivanova, Galina M. ''Labor Camp Socialism: The Gulag in the Soviet Totalitarian System''. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7656-0427-2}}.</ref> An estimated 18 million people passed through the Gulag system, and perhaps another 15&nbsp;million had experience of some other form of forced labor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anneapplebaum.com/communism/2000/06_15_nyrb_gulag.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015012139/http://www.anneapplebaum.com/communism/2000/06_15_nyrb_gulag.html|title=Anne Applebaum – Inside the Gulag|archive-date=15 October 2008}}</ref><ref name="applebaum">[[Applebaum, Anne]]. ''Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps''. London: Penguin Books, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7139-9322-7}}.</ref>

After the partition of Poland in 1939, the NKVD executed 20,000 captured Polish officers in the [[Katyn massacre]]. In the late 30s - first half of the 40s, the Stalinist government carried out [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|massive deportations of various nationalities]]. A number of ethnic groups were deported from their settlement to Central Asia.

===Soviet Union on the international stage===
{{Main|Foreign relations of the Soviet Union|Soviet imperialism}}
The Soviet Union viewed the 1933 accession of fervently [[anti-Communist]] [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] to power in [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] with alarm, especially since Hitler proclaimed the [[Drang nach Osten]] as one of the major objectives in his vision of the German strategy of [[Lebensraum]].<ref name=Lebensraum>See, e.g. [[Mein Kampf]]</ref>{{primary source inline|date=May 2023}} The Soviets supported the republicans of Spain who struggled against fascist German and Italian troops in the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>Payne, Stanley G. ''The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-300-10068-X}}.</ref><ref>Radosh, Ronald, Mary Habeck & Grigory Sevostianov (eds.). ''Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-300-08981-3}}.</ref> In 1938–1939, the Soviet Union successfully fought against [[Imperial Japan]] in the [[Soviet–Japanese border conflicts]] in the [[Russian Far East]], which led to [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact|Soviet-Japanese neutrality]] and the tense border peace that lasted until August 1945.<ref>[[Alvin Coox|Coox, Alvin D.]] ''The Anatomy of a Small War: The Soviet-Japanese Struggle for Changkufeng/Khasan, 1938''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977. {{ISBN|0-8371-9479-2}}.</ref><ref>Coox, Alvin D. ''Nomonhan: Japan against Russia, 1939''. 2 vols. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8047-1835-0}}.</ref>

In 1938, Germany [[Anschluss|annexed Austria]] and, together with major Western European powers, signed the [[Munich Agreement]] following which Germany, Hungary and Poland divided parts of Czechoslovakia between themselves. German plans for further eastward expansion, as well as the lack of resolve from Western powers to oppose it, became more apparent. Despite the Soviet Union strongly opposing the Munich deal and repeatedly reaffirming its readiness to militarily back commitments given earlier to Czechoslovakia, the [[Western Betrayal]] led to the end of Czechoslovakia and further increased fears in the Soviet Union of a coming German attack. This led the Soviet Union to rush the modernization of its military industry and to carry out its own diplomatic maneuvers. In 1939, the Soviet Union signed the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]: a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany dividing Eastern Europe into two separate spheres of influence.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Roberts, Geoffrey |year=1992 |title=The Soviet Decision for a Pact with Nazi Germany |journal=[[Soviet Studies]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=57–78 |jstor=00385859 |doi=10.1080/09668139208411994}}</ref> Following the pact, the USSR normalized [[Germany–Soviet Union relations, 1918–1941|relations with Nazi Germany]] and resumed Soviet–German trade.<ref>Ericson, Edward E. ''Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany, 1933–1941''. New York: Praeger, 1999. {{ISBN|0-275-96337-3}}.</ref><!---ref to books should be given with page numbers or specific sections. Will be removed if specific info not given--->

===World War II===
{{Main|World War II|Eastern Front (World War II)}}
On 17 September 1939, the [[Red Army]] [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invaded eastern Poland]], stating as justification the "need to protect Ukrainians and Belarusians" there, after the "cessation of existence" of the Polish state.<ref>Gross, Jan Tomasz. ''Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. 2nd ed. {{ISBN|0-691-09603-1}}.</ref><ref>Zaloga, Steven & Victor Madej. ''The Polish Campaign 1939''. 2nd ed. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1991. {{ISBN|0-87052-013-X}}.</ref> As a result, the Belarusian and Ukrainian Soviet republics' western borders were moved westward, and the new Soviet western border was drawn close to the original [[Curzon line]]. In the meantime negotiations with [[Finland]] over a Soviet-proposed land swap that would redraw the Soviet-Finnish border further away from [[Leningrad]] failed, and in December 1939 the USSR invaded Finland, beginning a campaign known as the [[Winter War]] (1939–1940), with the goal of annexing Finland into the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Manninen|first1=Ohto|author-link1=Ohto Manninen|title=Miten Suomi valloitetaan: Puna-armeijan operaatiosuunnitelmat 1939–1944|year=2008|publisher=Edita|isbn=978-951-37-5278-1|ref=Manninen2008|language=fi|trans-title=How to Conquer Finland: Operational Plans of the Red Army 1939–1944}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Clemmesen |editor1-first=Michael H. |editor2-last=Faulkner |editor2-first=Marcus |title=Northern European Overture to War, 1939–1941: From Memel to Barbarossa|ref=Clemmesen| year=2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-24908-0}}</ref> The war took a heavy death toll on the [[Red Army]] and the Soviets failed to conquer Finland, but forced Finland to sign the [[Moscow Peace Treaty]] and cede the [[Karelian Isthmus]] and [[Ladoga Karelia]].<ref>Vehviläinen, Olli. ''Finland in the Second World War: Between Germany and Russia''. New York: Palgrave, 2002. {{ISBN|0-333-80149-0}}</ref><ref>Van Dyke, Carl. ''The Soviet Invasion of Finland 1939–1940''. London: Frank Cass, 1997. {{ISBN|0-7146-4314-9}}.</ref> In summer 1940 the USSR issued an [[June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum|ultimatum to Romania]] forcing it to cede the territories of [[Bessarabia]] and [[Northern Bukovina]]. At the same time, the Soviet Union also occupied the three [[occupation of Baltic states|formerly independent Baltic states]] ([[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]]).<ref>Dima, Nicholas. ''Bessarabia and Bukovina: The Soviet-Romanian Territorial Dispute''. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1982. {{ISBN|0-88033-003-1}}.</ref><ref>Tarulis, Albert N. ''Soviet Policy Toward the Baltic States 1918–1940''. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1959.</ref><ref>Misiunas, Romuald J. & Rein Taagepera. ''The Baltic States: The Years of Dependence, 1940–90''. 2nd ed. London: Hurst & Co, 1993. {{ISBN|1-85065-157-4}}.</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E0406-0022-001, Russland, Kesselschlacht Stalingrad.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet soldiers during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, the turning point on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] and in the entire WWII]]
The peace with Germany was tense, as both sides were preparing for the military conflict,<ref name=Isaev10>А. В. Десять мифов Второй мировой. – М.: Эксмо, Яуза, 2004, {{ISBN|5-699-07634-4}}</ref><ref>[[Mikhail Meltyukhov]], ''[[Stalin's Missed Chance]]'', М. И. Мельтюхов ''Упущенный шанс Сталина: Советский Союз и борьба за Европу 1939–1941 гг. : Документы, факты, суждения.'' Изд. 2-е, испр., доп. {{ISBN|5-7838-1196-3}} (second edition)</ref> and abruptly ended when the [[Axis forces]] led by Germany [[Operation Barbarossa|swept across the Soviet border]] on 22 June 1941. By the autumn the [[Wehrmacht|German army]] had [[Battle of Kiev (1941)|seized Ukraine]], laid a [[siege of Leningrad]], and [[Battle of Moscow|threatened to capture the capital]], Moscow, itself.<ref>[[Gilbert, Martin]]. The Second World War: A Complete History. 2nd ed. New York: Owl Books, 1991. {{ISBN|0-8050-1788-7}}.</ref><ref>Thurston, Robert W. & Bernd Bonwetsch (ed.). ''The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-252-02600-4}}.</ref><ref>[[Clark, Alan]]. ''Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941–1945''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1985. {{ISBN|0-688-04268-6}}.</ref> Despite the fact that in December 1941 the Red Army [[Battle of Moscow|threw off the German forces from Moscow]] in a successful counterattack, the Germans retained the strategic initiative for approximately another year and held a deep offensive in the south-eastern direction, reaching the [[Volga]] and the [[Caucasus]]. However, two major German defeats in [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]] and [[Battle of Kursk|Kursk]] proved decisive and reversed the course of the entire [[World War II|World War]] as the Germans never regained the strength to sustain their offensive operations and the Soviet Union recaptured the initiative for the rest of the conflict.<ref>[[Beevor, Antony]]. ''[[Stalingrad (Beevor book)|Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942–1943]]''. New York: Viking, 1998. {{ISBN|0-670-87095-1}}.</ref> By the end of 1943, the Red Army had broken through the German siege of Leningrad and [[Battle of the Dnieper|liberated much of Ukraine]], much of Western Russia and [[Battle of Smolensk (1943)|moved into Belarus]].<ref>[[Glantz, David M.]] & [[Jonathan House|Jonathan M. House]]. ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. {{ISBN|0-7006-0717-X}}.</ref> During the 1944 campaign, the Red Army defeated German forces in a series of offensive campaigns known as [[Stalin's ten blows]]. By the end of 1944, the front had moved beyond the 1939 Soviet frontiers into eastern Europe. Soviet forces drove into eastern Germany, [[battle of Berlin|capturing Berlin]] in May 1945.<ref>[[Beevor, Antony]]. ''Berlin: The Downfall, 1945''. 3rd ed. London: Penguin Books, 2004. {{ISBN|0-14-101747-3}}.</ref> The war with Germany thus ended triumphantly for the Soviet Union.

As agreed at the [[Yalta Conference]], three months after the [[Victory Day (Eastern Europe)|Victory Day in Europe]] the USSR launched the [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria]], defeating the Japanese troops in neighboring [[Manchuria]], the last Soviet battle of World War II.<ref>[[Glantz, David M.]] ''The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria: 'August Storm{{'}}''. London: Routledge, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7146-5279-2}}.</ref>

[[File:Raising a flag over the Reichstag - Restoration.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Raising a Flag over the Reichstag]]'']]
Although the Soviet Union was victorious in World War II, the war resulted in around 26–27&nbsp;million Soviet deaths (estimates vary)<ref>This is far higher than the original number of 7 million given by Stalin, and, indeed, the number has increased under various Soviet and Russian Federation leaders. See Mark Harrison, ''The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 291 ({{ISBN|0-521-78503-0}}), for more information.</ref> and had devastated the Soviet economy in the struggle. Some 70,000 settlements were destroyed.<ref>As evidenced at the post-war [[Nuremberg Trials]]. See Ginsburg, George, ''The Nuremberg Trial and International Law'', Martinus Nijhoff, 1990, p. 160. {{ISBN|0-7923-0798-4}}.</ref> The occupied territories suffered from the ravages of German occupation and deportations of [[slave labor]] by Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/final-compensation-pending-for-former-nazi-forced-laborers/a-1757323|title=Final Compensation Pending for Former Nazi Forced Laborers &#124; DW &#124; 27.10.2005|website=DW.COM|access-date=18 April 2020|archive-date=22 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122194402/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1757323,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Thirteen million Soviet citizens became victims of the repressive policies of Germany and its allies in occupied territories, where people died because of mass murders, [[famine]], absence of medical aid and slave labor.<ref>Gerlach, C. "Kalkulierte Morde" Hamburger Edition, Hamburg, 1999</ref><ref>Россия и СССР в войнах ХХ века", М. "Олма- Пресс", 2001 год</ref><ref>[http://www.tr.rkrp-rpk.ru/get.php?1379 Цена войны (Борис ЯЧМЕНЕВ) – "Трудовая Россия"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001441/http://www.tr.rkrp-rpk.ru/get.php?1379 |date=27 September 2007 }}. Tr.rkrp-rpk.ru. Retrieved 16 February 2011.</ref><ref name="gumer1">[http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/Article/_Rubak_VelOtech.php Рыбаковский Л. Великая отечественная: людские потери России] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927183814/http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/Article/_Rubak_VelOtech.php |date=27 September 2007 }}. Gumer.info. Retrieved 16 February 2011.</ref> [[The Holocaust]], carried out by German ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' along with local collaborators, resulted in almost complete annihilation of the Jewish population over the entire territory temporarily occupied by Germany and [[Axis forces|its allies]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.un.int/russia/other/latv1941.htm |website = Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113204945/http://www.un.int/russia/other/latv1941.htm |archive-date=13 January 2009 |publisher = United Nations |title = Involvement of the Lettish SS Legion in War Crimes in 1941–1945 and the Attempts to Revise the Verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal in Latvia}}</ref><ref>[http://www.un.int/russia/other/eest1941.htm#english Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (Russian Federation. General Information)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511175048/http://www.un.int/russia/other/eest1941.htm |date=11 May 2009 }}. United Nations. Retrieved 16 February 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/chronology/1939-1941/1941/chronology_1941_18.html#top |archive-url=https://archive.today/20050311225417/http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/chronology/1939-1941/1941/chronology_1941_18.html |archive-date=11 March 2005 |title = July 25: Pogrom in Lvov|website = Chronology of the Holocaust|publisher = Yad Vashem}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.einsatzgruppenarchives.com/hofer.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606213149/http://www.einsatzgruppenarchives.com/hofer.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2007-06-06 | title=It Took Nerves of Steel}}</ref> During the occupation, the Leningrad region lost around a quarter of its population,<ref name="gumer1"/> Soviet Belarus lost from a quarter to a third of its population, and 3.6&nbsp;million Soviet [[prisoners of war]] (of 5.5&nbsp;million) died in German camps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gendercide.org/case_soviet.html|title=Case Study: Soviet Prisoners-of-War (POWs), 1941–42|work=Gendercide Watch|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-date=15 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515180937/http://www.gendercide.org/case_soviet.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century", Greenhill Books, London, 1997, G. F. Krivosheev</ref><ref>Christian Streit: Keine Kameraden: Die Wehrmacht und die Sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen, 1941–1945, Bonn: Dietz (3. Aufl., 1. Aufl. 1978), {{ISBN|3-8012-5016-4}}</ref>

===Cold War===
{{Main|Cold War}}
[[File:US Army tanks face off against Soviet tanks, Berlin 1961.jpg|thumb|right|US Army tanks [[Berlin Crisis of 1961|face off]] against Soviet armor at [[Checkpoint Charlie]], Berlin, October 1961.]]
Collaboration among the major Allies had won the war and was supposed to serve as the basis for postwar reconstruction and security. USSR became one of the founders of the [[UN]] and a [[Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|permanent member]] of the UN Security Council. However, the conflict between Soviet and U.S. national interests, known as the [[Cold War]], came to dominate the international stage.

The Cold War emerged from a conflict between Stalin and U.S. President [[Harry Truman]] over the future of Eastern Europe during the [[Potsdam Conference]] in the summer of 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/The+Cold+War.htm|title=The Cold War|work=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-date=14 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214004725/http://jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/The+Cold+War.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Stalin's goal was to establish a buffer zone of states between Germany and the Soviet Union.<ref name="Gaddis">{{cite book|last=Gaddis|first=John Lewis|author-link=John Lewis Gaddis|title=Russia, the Soviet Union, and the United States: An Interpretive History|year=1990|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/russiasovietunio00gadd/page/176 176]|isbn=0-07-557258-3|url=https://archive.org/details/russiasovietunio00gadd/page/176}}</ref> Truman charged that Stalin had betrayed the [[Yalta]] agreement.<ref name="theoharis-orginsOfColdWar">{{cite journal |last1=Theoharis |first1=Athan |title=Roosevelt and Truman on Yalta: The Origins of the Cold War |journal=Political Science Quarterly |year=1972 |volume=87 |issue=2 |page=226 |doi=10.2307/2147826 |jstor=2147826 }}</ref> With Eastern Europe under Red Army occupation, Stalin was also biding his time, as his own [[Soviet atomic bomb project|atomic bomb project]] was steadily and secretly progressing.<ref>Cochran, Thomas B., Robert S. Norris & Oleg Bukharin. [http://docs.nrdc.org/nuclear/nuc_01019501a_138.pdf ''Making the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809124538/http://docs.nrdc.org/nuclear/nuc_01019501a_138.pdf |date=9 August 2007 }} (PDF). Boulder,. CO:. Westview Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-8133-2328-2}}.</ref><ref>[[Gaddis, John Lewis]]. ''We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History''. Oxford: Clarendon press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-878071-0}}.</ref>

In April 1949 the United States sponsored the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO), a mutual defense pact. The Soviet Union established an Eastern counterpart to NATO in 1955, dubbed the [[Warsaw Pact]].<ref>[[Vojtech Mastny (historian)|Mastny, Vojtech]], Malcolm Byrne & Magdalena Klotzbach (eds.). ''Cardboard Castle?: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1991''. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|963-7326-08-1}}.</ref><ref>Holloway, David & Jane M. O. Sharp. ''The Warsaw Pact: Alliance in Transition?'' Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984. {{ISBN|0-8014-1775-9}}.</ref><ref>Holden, Gerard. ''The Warsaw Pact: Soviet Security and Bloc Politics''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989. {{ISBN|0-631-16775-7}}.</ref> The division of Europe into Western and Soviet blocks later took on a more global character, especially after 1949, when the U.S. nuclear monopoly ended with the testing of [[Joe-1|a Soviet bomb]] and the [[Communist Party of China|Communist]] takeover in [[China]].

The foremost objectives of Soviet foreign policy were the maintenance and enhancement of national security and the maintenance of [[Eastern Bloc|hegemony over Eastern Europe]]. The Soviet Union maintained its dominance over the Warsaw Pact through crushing the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]],<ref>Litvan, Gyorgy, Janos M. Bak & Lyman Howard Legters (eds.). ''The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Reform, Revolt and Repression, 1953–1963''. London – New York: Longman, 1996. {{ISBN|0-582-21504-8}}.</ref> suppressing the [[Prague Spring]] in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and supporting the suppression of the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] movement in Poland in the early 1980s. The Soviet Union opposed the United States in a number of [[proxy conflicts]] all over the world, including the [[Korean War]] and [[Vietnam War]].

As the Soviet Union continued to maintain tight control over its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, the Cold War gave way to ''[[Détente]]'' and a more complicated pattern of international relations in the 1970s. The [[nuclear race]] continued, the number of nuclear weapons in the hands of the USSR and the United States reached a menacing scale, giving them the ability to destroy the planet multiple times. Less powerful countries had more room to assert their independence, and the two [[superpower]]s were partially able to recognize their common interest in trying to check the further spread and proliferation of nuclear weapons in treaties such as [[SALT I]], [[SALT II]], and the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]].

U.S.–Soviet relations deteriorated following the beginning of the nine-year [[Soviet–Afghan War]] in 1979 and the [[1980 U.S. presidential election|1980 election of Ronald Reagan]], a staunch [[anti-communist]], but improved as the [[communist bloc]] started to unravel in the late 1980s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia lost the superpower status that it had won in the Second World War.

===De-Stalinization and the era of stagnation===
{{Main|Khrushchev Thaw|History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)|History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)|Era of Stagnation}}
[[Nikita Khrushchev]] solidified his position in a speech before the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party]] in 1956 detailing Stalin's atrocities.<ref name="CNN Khrushchev">{{cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/khrushchev/|title=Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613043811/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/khrushchev/|archive-date=13 June 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Jimmy Carter]] and Soviet General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) treaty, 18 June 1979.]]
In 1964, Khrushchev was [[Impeachment|impeached]] by the Communist Party's Central Committee, charging him with a host of errors that included Soviet setbacks such as the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]].<ref name="CNN Khrushchev" /> After a period of [[collective leadership]] led by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Alexei Kosygin]] and [[Nikolai Podgorny]], Brezhnev took Khrushchev's place as [[Soviet leader]].<ref>{{cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/brezhnev/|title=Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613043927/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/brezhnev/|archive-date=13 June 2008}}</ref> Brezhnev emphasized heavy industry,<ref name="History Guide Brezhnev">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyguide.org/europe/brezhnev.html|title=Leonid Brezhnev, 1906–1982|work=The History Guide|access-date=22 July 2007|quote=During the 1970s Brezhnev attempted to normalize relations between [[West Germany]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]] and to ease tensions with the United States through the policy known as détente. At the same time, he saw to it that the Soviet Union's military-industrial complex was greatly expanded and modernized.", "After his death, he was criticized for a gradual slide in living standards, the spread of corruption and cronyism within the Soviet [[bureaucracy]], and the generally [[Era of Stagnation|stagnant and dispiriting character of Soviet life]] in the late 1970s and early '80s.|archive-date=13 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002304/http://www.historyguide.org/europe/brezhnev.html|url-status=live}}</ref> instituted the [[Soviet economic reform of 1965]],<ref name=Duke>{{cite web|title=Soviet and Post-Soviet Economic Structure And Performance|url=http://econ.duke.edu/pub/treml/brezhnev.293|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121210193915/http://econ.duke.edu/pub/treml/brezhnev.293|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 December 2012|publisher=HArper Collins}}</ref> and also attempted to ease relationships with the United States.<ref name="History Guide Brezhnev" /> Soviet science and industry peaked in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years. The world's first [[nuclear power plant]] was established in 1954 [[Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant|in Obninsk]], and the [[Baikal Amur Mainline]] was built. In the 1950s the USSR became a leading producer and exporter of petroleum and natural gas.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ermolaev |first1=Sergei |title=The Formation and Evolution of the Soviet Union's Oil and Gas Dependence |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2017/03/the-formation-and-evolution-of-the-soviet-unions-oil-and-gas-dependence?lang=en |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |language=en |archive-date=4 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004095240/https://carnegieendowment.org/2017/03/29/formation-and-evolution-of-soviet-union-s-oil-and-gas-dependence-pub-68443 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1980 Moscow hosted the [[1980 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympic Games]].

While all modernized economies were rapidly moving to computerization after 1965, the USSR fell behind. Moscow's decision to copy the IBM 360 of 1965 proved a decisive mistake for it locked scientists into an antiquated system they were unable to improve. They had enormous difficulties in manufacturing the necessary chips reliably and in quantity, in programming workable and efficient programs, in coordinating entirely separate operations, and in providing support to computer users.<ref>James W. Cortada, "Public Policies and the Development of National Computer Industries in Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, 1940—80." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2009) 44#3 pp. 493–512, especially pp. 509-510.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor = 30036313|title = Computers and the Cold War: United States Restrictions on the Export of Computers to the Soviet Union and Communist China|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 40|issue = 1|pages = 131–147|last1 = Cain|first1 = Frank|year = 2005|doi = 10.1177/0022009405049270|s2cid = 154809517}}</ref>

One of the greatest strengths of Soviet economy was its vast supplies of oil and gas; world oil prices quadrupled in 1973–1974, and rose again in 1979–1981, making the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy, and was used to cover multiple weaknesses. At one point, Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] told the head of oil and gas production, "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan."<ref>Yergin, ''The Quest'' (2011) p. 23</ref> Former prime minister [[Yegor Gaidar]], an economist looking back three decades, in 2007 wrote:
{{blockquote|The hard currency from oil exports stopped the growing food supply crisis, increased the import of equipment and consumer goods, ensured a financial base for the arms race and the achievement of nuclear parity with the United States, and permitted the realization of such risky foreign-policy actions as the war in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yegor Gaidar|title=Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102|date=2007|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|page=102|isbn=978-0815731153|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-date=20 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020195744/https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

===Soviet space program===
[[File:Yuri Gagarin (1961) - Restoration.jpg|thumb|[[Yuri Gagarin]], first human to travel into space.]]
The [[Soviet space program]], founded by [[Sergey Korolev]], was especially successful. On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first [[satellite]], [[Sputnik]].<ref name="NASA Sputnik">{{cite web|work=NASA|url=https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/|title=Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age|access-date=22 July 2007|date=19 January 2007|author=Steve Garber|quote=History changed on October&nbsp;4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite...|archive-date=20 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520020409/https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/|url-status=live}}</ref> On 12 April 1961, [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first human to travel into space in the Soviet spaceship [[Vostok 1]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/netnotes/article/0,,470879,00.html|title=Yuri Gagarin|work=The Guardian|location=UK|quote=12 April 2001 is the fortieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, the first time a human left the planet|author=Neil Perry|access-date=22 July 2007|date=12 April 2001|archive-date=12 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112083401/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/12/netnotes.neilperry|url-status=live}}</ref> Other achievements of Russian space program include: the first photo of the [[far side of the Moon]]; exploration of [[Venus]]; the first [[Extra-vehicular activity|spacewalk]] by [[Alexei Leonov]]; first female spaceflight by [[Valentina Tereshkova]]. In 1970 and 1973, the world's first planetary rovers were sent to the moon: [[Lunokhod 1]] and [[Lunokhod 2]]. More recently, the Soviet Union produced the world's first space station, [[Salyut]], which in 1986 was replaced by [[Mir]], the first consistently inhabited long-term space station, that served from 1986 to 2001.

===Perestroika and Glasnost===
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)|Perestroika|Glasnost}}

Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. After the rapid succession of [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]], [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] implemented [[perestroika]] in an attempt to modernize Soviet communism, and made significant changes in the party leadership.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-22 |title=Soviet Union - Interregnum, Andropov, Chernenko {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union/The-Interregnum-Andropov-and-Chernenko |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Little |first=Becky |date=March 6, 2025 |title=Soviet Union Leaders: A Timeline |url=https://www.history.com/articles/soviet-union-leaders-order |access-date=March 22, 2025 |website=www.history.com}}</ref> However, Gorbachev's social reforms led to unintended consequences. His policy of ''[[glasnost]]'' facilitated public access to information after decades of government repression, and social problems received wider public attention, undermining the Communist Party's authority. ''Glasnost'' allowed ethnic and nationalist disaffection to reach the surface,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-07 |title=Glasnost {{!}} Perestroika, Gorbachev, Reforms {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/glasnost |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and many constituent republics, especially the [[Baltic republics]], [[Georgian SSR]] and [[Moldavian SSR]], sought greater autonomy, which Moscow was unwilling to provide. In the [[revolutions of 1989]] the USSR lost its allies in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev's attempts at economic reform were not sufficient, and the Soviet government left intact most of the fundamental elements of communist economy. Suffering from low pricing of petroleum and natural gas, the ongoing [[Soviet–Afghan War|war in Afghanistan]], and outdated industry and pervasive corruption, the Soviet [[planned economy]] proved to be ineffective, and by 1990 the Soviet government had lost control over economic conditions. Due to [[price control]], there were shortages of almost all products. Control over the constituent republics was also relaxed, and they began to assert their national sovereignty.
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the first Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.jpg|thumb|[[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in Geneva, November 1985.]]
The tension between Soviet Union and Russian SFSR authorities came to be personified in the power struggle between Gorbachev and [[Boris Yeltsin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmZjYmUzZmQ1ZmFlMTc5NjA1ZWZiZTgwMTM1ZDVkOTk=|title=Boris on a Pedestal|quote=In the process he engaged in a power struggle with Mikhail Gorbachev...|author=David Pryce-Jones|work=National Review|access-date=22 July 2007|date=20 March 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602220414/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmZjYmUzZmQ1ZmFlMTc5NjA1ZWZiZTgwMTM1ZDVkOTk=|archive-date=2 June 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Squeezed out of Union politics by Gorbachev in 1987, Yeltsin, who represented himself as a committed democrat, presented a significant opposition to Gorbachev's authority.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-24 |title=The Helmut Kohl Transcripts: Engaging Gorbachev and Yeltsin {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/helmut-kohl-transcripts-engaging-gorbachev-and-yeltsin |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref> In a remarkable reversal of fortunes, he gained election as chairman of the Russian republic's new Supreme Soviet in May 1990.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=CNN|title=Boris Yeltsin|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/yeltsin/|quote=The first-ever popularly elected leader of Russia, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a protégé of Mikhail Gorbachev's.|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613043952/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/yeltsin/|archive-date=13 June 2008}}</ref>

===Priority over Soviet Union laws and negotiations on a new Treaty===
{{Main|Parade of sovereignties|War of Laws|New Union Treaty}}

The following month, Yeltsin secured legislation [[Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|giving Russian laws priority over Soviet laws]]. Article 5 of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic establishes the full authority of the RSFSR, with the exception of those which it voluntarily transfers to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as the supremacy of the Constitution of the RSFSR and the laws of the RSFSR over the entire territory of the RSFSR. Acts of the Union of SSR which conflict with the sovereign rights of the RSFSR shall be suspended by the Republic on its territory. And also Yeltsin withholding two-thirds of the budget.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} In the [[1991 Russian presidential election|first Russian presidential election]] in 1991 Yeltsin became president of the Russian SFSR. At last Gorbachev [[New Union Treaty|attempted to restructure]] the Soviet Union into a less centralized state. However, on 19 August 1991, a [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup against Gorbachev]] was attempted. The coup faced wide popular opposition and collapsed in three days, but disintegration of the Union became imminent. The Russian government took over most of the Soviet Union government institutions on its territory. Because of the dominant position of Russians in the Soviet Union, most gave little thought to any distinction between Russia and the [[Soviet Union]] before the late 1980s. In the Soviet Union, only Russian SFSR lacked its own republic-level Communist Party branch, [[trade union]] councils, [[Academy of Sciences]], and the like.<ref>{{cite web|quote=Because of the Russians' dominance in the affairs of the union, the RSFSR failed to develop some of the institutions of governance and administration that were typical of public life in the other republics: a republic-level communist party, a Russian academy of sciences, and Russian branches of trade unions, for example.|work=Country Studies|title=Government|url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/68.htm|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-date=20 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520122150/http://countrystudies.us/russia/68.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Soviet coup attempt, the Transition Period and the end of the Soviet Union ===
{{Main|1991 Soviet coup attempt|Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Transition period and cessation of the existence of the Soviet Union|Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union}}
The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] was banned in Russia in 1991, although no [[lustration]] has ever taken place, and many of its members became top Russian officials. However, as the Soviet government was still opposed to immediate market reforms, the economic situation continued to deteriorate.

On 24 September, [[RSFSR State Secretary]] [[Gennady Burbulis]] arrived to Boris Yeltsin, who was on vacation at the Black Sea coast. He brought a document “Russia's Strategy for the Transition Period”, which later received the unofficial name “Burbulis Memorandum”. The “memorandum” contained an analysis of the situation in the country, proposals on what should be done without delay, prepared by Yegor Gaidar's group. The document concluded that Russia should take the course of economic independence with a “soft”, “temporary” political alliance with other republics, i.e. to create not a declared, but a truly independent state of Russia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.interfax.ru/30years/790279|title=Меморандум Бурбулиса|date=September 24, 1991}}</ref> 30 years later, Burbulis recalled that the Burbulis Memorandum was the reform concept of Gaidar's group: There was not any secrecy. First Yegor Gaidar made a report at the State Council of the RSFSR, and then Burbulis spoke at the State Council and said he would make a report for Yeltsin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.interfax.ru/30years/790281|title=Геннадий Бурбулис в интервью "Интерфаксу: "Меморандум Бурбулиса" - это концепция реформ группы Гайдара|date=September 24, 1991}}</ref>

As the [[Kommersant]] newspaper wrote on 7 October 1991, a series of conflicts occurred in the [[RSFSR government]] during preparations for the signing of the [[Treaty on the Economic Community (post-Soviet states)|Treaty on the Economic Community]]. In his speech to members of the Russian parliament, RSFSR State Secretary Gennady Burbulis declared Russia's special role as the legal successor to the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the ways of drafting agreements with the republics should be determined by the Russian leadership. Instead of the planned order, he suggested signing a political agreement first, followed by an economic one. The newspaper suggested that Burbulis' goal was to persuade Yeltsin not to sign the agreement as it stands at the time. [[Yegor Gaidar]], [[Alexander Shokhin]] and [[Konstantin Kagalovsky]] were named as the developers of the statement made by Burbulis. In the same time, a group of "isolationist patriots" consisting of [[Mikhail Maley]], [[Nikolay Fyodorov (politician)|Nikolai Fedorov]], [[Alexander Shokhin]], [[Igor Lazarev]] and [[Mikhail Poltoranin]] criticized [[Ivan Silaev]] and [[Yevgeny Saburov]] for wanting to preserve the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1023 | title=Подпись России под соглашением: вот она была, и нету? | date=7 October 1991 }}</ref>

The [[Treaty on Economic Community]] was signed in Moscow on 18 October 1991 in a single copy in the Russian language by the competent representatives, including Boris Yeltsin.<ref>https://www.gorby.ru/userfiles/21_dogovor_ob_ekonomicheskom_soobschestve.pdf</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bigenc.ru/c/dogovor-ob-ekonomicheskom-soobshchestve-suverennykh-gosudarstv-1991-0017e0|title=Договор об Экономическом сообществе суверенных государств 1991|date=December 21, 2022|website=Большая российская энциклопедия}}</ref>

By December 1991, the shortages had resulted in the introduction of food [[rationing]] in Moscow and Saint Petersburg for the first time since World War II. Russia received humanitarian food aid from abroad. After the [[Belavezha Accords]], the [[Supreme Soviet of Russia]] withdrew Russia from the Soviet Union on 12 December. The Soviet Union officially ended on 25 December 1991,<ref name="BBC Timeline">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1112551.stm|work=BBC|title=Timeline: Soviet Union|quote=1991 25 December – Gorbachev resigns as Soviet president; US recognises independence of remaining Soviet republics|access-date=22 July 2007|date=3 March 2006|archive-date=28 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828024054/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1112551.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Russia|Russian Federation]] (formerly the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Russian+Soviet+Federal+Socialist+Republic|work=The Free Dictionary|title=Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic|quote=The largest republic of the former Soviet Union; it became independent as the Russian Federation in 1991|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-date=12 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112021153/http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Russian+Soviet+Federal+Socialist+Republic|url-status=dead}}</ref> took power on 26 December.<ref name="BBC Timeline" /> The Russian government lifted price control on 2 January 1992. Prices rose dramatically, but shortages disappeared.