CHRONOLOGY - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 432

(August) Gorbachev and Yeltsin agree on 500-
day plan for transition to market economy.
(October) Gorbachev presents plan for more
gradual economic reform.
Reunification of East and West Germany.
(November) Law on Peasant Farms allows col-
lective farm members to own private farms.
(November) CFE treaty signed in Paris.
(December) Eduard Shevardnadze resigns as for-
eign minister, warning that dictatorship is
approaching.
Gorbachev awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

Unsuccessful coup is followed by declarations of
independence by all 15 republics of the USSR.
(September) Soviet government recognizes
independence of the three Baltic republics.
Leningrad renamed St. Petersburg.
Centralized government replaced by voluntary
agreement among now sovereign republics.
Ten former Soviet republics agree to set up com-
mon market.
(October) Yeltsin presents radical plan for Rus-
sian Republic's transition to market economy.
(November) COMECON dissolves.
(December) Ukrainian referendum on indepen-
dence receives 90 percent approval.
(December) Presidents of Russia, the Ukraine,
and Belorussia meet to establish Common-
wealth of Independent States and dissolve
Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigns.

1991
Population of Soviet Union estimated at 290 mil-
lion.
(January) Soviet special forces attack communi-
cation centers in Vilnius, Lithuania, killing 14
people; Soviet troops also attack public build-
ings in Riga.
Gorbachev picks conservative Valentin Pavlov as
Soviet prime minister.
(March) Major strike of miners begins.
(April) Georgia declares independence.
(May) Law passed permitting free travel and
emigration for Soviet citizens by 1993.
(June) Yeltsin wins popular election to presi-
dency of Russian Republic, becoming first
democratically elected leader of Russia.
(July) Gorbachev-Bush summit and signing of
START treaty in Moscow.
Bodies of Nicholas II and family exhumed.
(August) August Coup.
Vice president Gennadi Yanaev, Interior Minis-
ter Boris Pugo, and Defense Minister Dmitrii
Yazov announce the formation of “emer-
gency government.” Gorbachev held under
house arrest in Crimea. Yeltsin mobilizes
Moscow population to resist coup, speaking
to crowd from tank and barricades himself in
parliament building. Gorbachev returns to
Moscow, resigns as general secretary of Com-
munist Party. Pugo commits suicide. Yeltsin
closes Pravda and disbands CPSU. Activities of
Communist Party suspended in most Soviet
republics.

Russian Federation
December 1991

1992
Yeltsin's “shock therapy” stimulates inflation.
(January) Yeltsin's “shock therapy”: Prime min-
ister frees prices, ruble drops drastically, prices
skyrocket.
(March) Russian government signs Federation
Treaty with all autonomous republics inside
Russian Federation except Chechnya and
Tatarstan.
(April) Western nations announce $1 billion aid
package for Russia.
Congress of People's Deputies begins its attack
on the government.
(May) Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan sign Treaty on Col-
lective Security.
(June) Yegor Gaidar appointed acting prime
minister.
(October) Voucher privatization begins.
(December) Viktor Chernomyrdin replaces Yegor
Gaidar as prime minister.