Editing History of Russia (section)

===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 Suffering from low pricing of petroleum and natural gas, the ongoing [[Soviet–Afghan War|war in Afghanistan]], and outdated industry and pervasive corruption, the Soviet [[planned economy]] proved to be ineffective, and by 1990 the Soviet government had lost control over economic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>