Dissolution of the Soviet UnionThe dissolution of the Soviet Union was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR), which resulted in the end of the existence of the country and of its federal government as a sovereign state, which in turn resulted in its 15 constituent republics gaining full independence on 26 December 1991. It brought an end to General Secretary (also President) Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide.
