The Belavezha accords
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, meeting at a hunting lodge in the Belavezha forest, declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist as a subject of international law and announced a Commonwealth of Independent States. Eight further republics joined the arrangement at Alma-Ata later in the month. Whether three republics had the legal authority to dissolve the union has been argued about ever since; what is not in doubt is that the central state no longer had the means to contradict them.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Mikhail Gorbachev · person · Soviet Union · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Declaration of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the dissolution of the USSR
Supports the formal date of dissolution and the fact that it was effected by a declaration of the upper chamber the day after Gorbachev's resignation. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted. The reference number 142-N is the number under which the declaration is commonly cited and is given here as an identifier rather than as a document verified in this session; a curator should confirm it before it is shown to readers.
Supreme Soviet of the USSR · 1991-12-26 · Partly verified
Declaration of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 26 December 1991, commonly cited as Declaration No. 142-N
Recorded on Mikhail Gorbachev
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Soviet Union is formally dissolved · 1991-12-26
- The attempted coup against Gorbachev · 1991-08-19 – 1991-08-21
- The Berlin Wall opens · 1989-11-09
- The INF Treaty is signed in Washington · 1987-12-08
- The Reykjavik summit · 1986-10-11 – 1986-10-12
- The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan · 1979-12 – 1989-02-15