Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Stalin dies and is entombed on Red Square. Nikita Khrushchev becomes first secret-
ary. His main rival, Lavrenty Beria, is arrested, tried for treason and executed.
1956
Khrushchev makes a 'secret speech' at the Party Congress, denouncing Stalin's re-
pressive regime and justifying his execution of Beria three years earlier.
1961
Stalin is removed from the mausoleum on Red Square and buried in the Kremlin wall.
1958
Nearly three decades after the destruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the
massive hole in the ground becomes the world's largest swimming pool.
1964
A coup against Khrushchev brings Leonid Brezhnev to power, ushering in the so-
called 'years of stagnation'.
1979-80
Russia invades Afghanistan to support its communist regime against US-backed
Islamic militants. Relations between the superpowers deteriorate.
1982-85
Brezhnev's death ushers in former KGB supremo Yury Andropov as general secretary
for 15 months until his death. His successor, Konstantin Chernenko, dies 13 months
later.
1985
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected general secretary of the Communist Party. Intent on re-
form he institutes policies of perestroika(restructuring) and glasnost(openness).
1991
A failed coup in August seals the end of the USSR. Gorbachev resigns and Boris
Yeltsin becomes the first popularly elected president of the Russian Federation.
1992
