Translation from foreign media: 20 years ago, on December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR, announcing its collapse. The era of the communist empire, which existed since 1922, has ended. The USSR was in a long state of economic stagnation when Gorbachev came to power in 1985. To change everything, he introduced several reforms, including perestroika and glasnost. Glasnost gave rise to protests, and many republics began to move towards independence, threatening the existence of the USSR. In August 1991, a group of leading Communist Party officials, angered by the separatist movement, attempted a mutiny that failed due to civil strife, but this further undermined the already unstable government. By December 1991, 16 Soviet republics declared their independence, and Gorbachev handed over power to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Thus came the end of the USSR. This issue contains photographs of those turbulent months 20 years ago.
1. A woman rummages through a bag on a fallen hammer and sickle on a street in Moscow in 1991. December 25 will be 20 years since the collapse of the USSR. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
2. Lithuanians with flags in the center of Vilnius on January 10, 1990 during a demonstration for the country's independence. At the beginning of 1990, Sąjūdis candidates won elections to the Supreme Council of Lithuania. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council declared the restoration of Lithuanian independence. The Baltic republics were in the front row in the struggle for independence, and Lithuania was the first to declare independence. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)
3. Mikhail Gorbachev in a lively conversation with residents of Vilnius on January 11, 1990. Gorbachev arrived in the Lithuanian capital to encourage the local Communist Party to reverse its decision to secede from Moscow. (AP Photo/Victor Yurchenko)
4. A crowd blocks Soviet tanks from crossing on a road near Ganja in Soviet Azerbaijan on January 22, 1990. Troops sent here to quell the violence ran into armed resistance. (AP Photo)
5. People buy cups in the center of Vilnius on April 27, 1990. Despite the economic blockade of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, shops in Vilnius were full of food and other goods. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
6. Residents confront a cordon of Soviet troops in front of the headquarters of the local Communist Party in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on February 15, 1990. After the uprising, the Soviet authorities declared a state of emergency in the country. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti)
7. Two Soviet paratroopers inspect weapons confiscated from a local military organization in Kaunas, Lithuania, March 26, 1990. Gorbachev ordered all Lithuanians to surrender their weapons. (AP Photo/Vadimir Vyatkin/Novisti)
8. Police restrain mothers who lost their loved ones in the war on Red Square in Moscow on December 24, 1990. A group of 200 Soviet parents who lost sons to ethnic violence and military accidents staged a protest outside the Kremlin. In 1990, 6,000 Soviet troops died. (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)
9. About 100,000 demonstrators are outside the Kremlin in Moscow, January 20, 1991. Many called for Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation, protesting the Soviet Army's raid on Lithuania's nationalist authorities. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)
10. Soldiers patrol an empty Red Square on March 27, 1991, after the square was closed in anticipation of a demonstration for Yeltsin. (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
11. Anti-Soviet political drawings and graffiti on a wall in Vilnius on January 17, 1991. A wall was erected around the Lithuanian parliament due to fears of a possible raid by Soviet troops. Many Soviet Army deserters pinned their summonses onto Mikhail Gorbachev's poster. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing)
12. A Lithuanian protester runs in front of a Soviet tank during an attack on a radio and television station in Vilnius on January 13, 1991. Soviet troops opened fire on unarmed civilians in Vilnius, killing 13 people and wounding 100 more. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
13. An armed Lithuanian volunteer woke up while his comrade slept in Vilnius on January 23, 1991. Hundreds of armed men stood guard in the fortified Lithuanian parliament as Mikhail Gorbachev tried to prevent further violence in other republics. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing)
14. Funeral of 10 of the 13 dead people in Vilnius on January 16, 1991. These people died when Soviet troops stormed the Lithuanian television center. Hundreds of thousands of people came to say goodbye to them. (AP Photo)
15. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow on March 10, 1991 demand the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev and his cabinet. It was the largest anti-government demonstration in the 73 years since the Communists took power. (AP Photo/Dominique Mollard)
16. A few weeks before the putsch, Mikhail Gorbachev stands surrounded by his so-called friends, who will very soon carry out the August putsch against him. Vice President Gennady Yanaev (second from right) became the most visible leader of the Putsch. In this photo they light a fire at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall in May 1991. (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
17. Soviet tanks at the Spassky Gate, at the entrance to the Kremlin after the putsch on August 19, 1991. Tanks drove through Moscow to the White House, where Boris Yeltsin gathered supporters to end the coup. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)
18. Leaders of the August Putsch: (from left) Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo, Vice President Gennady Yanaev and First Vice President of the Defense Council Oleg Baklanov. These people were members of the so-called “emergency committee” that led the putsch against Mikhail Gorbachev. In this photo they are at a press conference on August 19, 1991 in Moscow. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)
19. A crowd gathered around an armored personnel carrier, trying to block its passage to Red Square on August 19, 1991. Military equipment appeared on the streets of the capital after the announcement that Mikhail Gorbachev was replaced by Gennady Yanaev. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)
20. Yeltsin supporters roll barrels for a barricade near the federal building in Moscow on August 19, 1991. (Anatoly Sapronyenkov/AFP/Getty Images)
21. President Boris Yeltsin (left) on an armored personnel carrier during the coup attempt. Yeltsin called on the crowd for a general strike. (Diane-Lu Hovasse/AFP/Getty Images)
22. Video of Mikhail Gorbachev, in which he says that the putsch is unconstitutional and that everything is fine with him. (NBC TV/AFP/Getty Images)
23. A demonstrator fights with a soldier on a tank on August 19, 1991. On the same day, thousands of people in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities responded to Boris Yeltsin's call to erect barricades against the troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)
24. Boris Yeltsin raises his fist to his supporters in Moscow on August 19, 1991, calling on them to strike. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)
25. More than 50,000 people ignored the declaration of a state of emergency and gathered outside the parliament building in support of Yeltsin on August 20, 1991. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)
26. A demonstrator argues with a soldier in Moscow. (Andre Durand/AFP/Getty Images)
27. Residents of Moscow play the guitar and communicate with soldiers in front of the White House, August 20, 1991. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
28. People at the barricade in front of the White House on August 21, 1991. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
29. A soldier waves the Russian flag on a tank as he leaves Moscow after the failed coup against Gorbachev on August 21, 1991. The coup leaders fled the capital, and rumors began to circulate that Gorbachev would soon return. (Willy Slingerland/AFP/Getty Images)
30. Part of the crowd outside the parliament building in Moscow rejoices at the failure of the coup on August 22, 1991. (AP Photo)
31. Celebration after the failure of the coup. (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
32. A crowd watches as a statue of KGB founder Dzerzhinsky is toppled in Moscow on August 22, 1991. (Anatoly Sapronenkov/AFP/Getty Images)
33. Gorbachev was released from house arrest in August 1991. (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
34. People at the funeral of the victims of the coup in front of the White House on August 24, 1991. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
35. A group of Yeltsin supporters dismantle one of the barricades in Moscow on August 25, 1991. (Alain-Pierre Hovasse/AFP/Getty Images)
36. A resident of Baku tears off an image of Lenin with an ax on September 21, 1991. Azerbaijan was declared a Soviet Socialist Republic by the Soviet Union in 1920. The country voted for independence in 1991. (Anatoly Sapronenkov/AFP/Getty Images)
37. A KGB member hands over a weapon to a Lithuanian in Vilnius. August 31, 1991. (Stephan Bentura/AFP/Getty Images)
38. Rock fans at a concert in Moscow on September 28, 1991. Half a million people came to the airfield for a concert where AC/DC, Pantera and Metallica performed. It was a kind of gift to Russian youth as a sign of gratitude for their opposition to the putsch. (AP Photo/Massimo Alabresi)
39. A Lithuanian girl sits on an overturned statue of Vladimir Lenin in Vilnius, after the monument was removed from the center on September 1, 1991. (Gerard Fouet/AFP/Getty Images)
40. Chechen separatists at a rally in Grozny on November 14, 1991 rejoice at the withdrawal of Soviet troops. (AP Photo)
41. Residents of Ukraine vote in a referendum for independence from the USSR at the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow on December 1, 1991. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)
42. The Musichik family watches Mikhail Gorbachev announce his resignation in Moscow on December 25, 1991. Gorbachev, whose reforms gave Soviet citizens freedom but ultimately led to the destruction of the nation, resigned as president of a communist empire that no longer exists. (AP Photo/Sergei Kharpukhin)
43. Immediately after Gorbachev's resignation, Boris Yeltsin received instructions from Russian military nuclear experts on working with a diplomat with access to the nuclear arsenal of the former USSR. (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
44. The last time the Soviet flag flies over the Kremlin in Moscow is December 21, 1991. On New Year's Day the flag was replaced with a Russian one. (AP Photo/Gene Berman)
