Everyone knows that the USSR has been going to ruin for a long time. There are many reasons - the authoritarianism of the state, monocentrism of decision-making, the inability of the state to satisfy the needs of the population, the constant lag in the standard of living from the developed countries of the West, and, by the end, unsuccessful attempts to reform the political and economic system, which, in fact, led to the very collapse.
We present you with photographs of the last months of the Union's existence.
1. People buy cups in a shop in the center of Vilnius on April 27, 1990. Despite the economic blockade of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, on its 10th day, food and other consumer goods were continuously flowing into Vilnius stores. (AP Photo / Dusan Vranic)
2. Mothers who lost their sons in the Red Army stand on Red Square with photographs of their beloved children on Monday, December 24, 1990. About 200 parents protested near the walls of the Kremlin, whose sons died as a result of mee-ethnic violence in the army. In 1990, about 6,000 servicemen were killed in the USSR. (AP Photo / Martin Cleaver)
3. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Manezhnaya Square in Moscow on March 10, 1991, demanding the abdication of Mikhail Gorbachev and his communist associates. The crowd numbered 500,000, and it was the largest anti-government demonstration since the communists came to power. (AP Photo / Dominique Mollard)
4. Mikhail Gorbachev surrounded by his "comrades" a few weeks before they lead the August putsch. Next to Gorbachev is the vice-president of the USSR, Gennady Yanayev, who will soon become the most prominent figure in the Putsch. In the photo - the leaders of the country at the solemn lighting of a fire at the grave of the unknown soldier near the Kremlin in May 1991 (AFP / EPA / Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
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5. Soviet tanks against the background of St. Basil's Cathedral and the Spasskaya Tower August 19, 1991 The tanks drove all over Moscow to the very white house, where Boris Yeltsin gathered his supporters and signed a decree "On the illegality of the actions of the Emergency Committee." (Dima Tanin / AFP / Getty Images)
6. Leaders of the August putsch from left to right: USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo, USSR Vice-President Gennady Yanayev, Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council Oleg Baklanov. They formed the State Committee for the State of Emergency and tried to prevent the collapse of the USSR. (Vitaly Armand / AFP / Getty Images)
7. The crowd surrounded an APC trying to block the road on 19 August 1991. Military equipment took to the streets of Moscow after it was announced that President Mikhail Gorbachev had been removed from his post and replaced by Gennady Yanayev. (AP Photo / Boris Yurchenko)
8. Supporters of Boris Yeltsin roll a large pipe onto the barricades, August 19, 1991 (Anatoly Sapronyenkov / AFP / Getty Images)
9. Boris Yeltsin on a tank in front of the government building On August 19, 1991, Yeltsin addressed a crowd of supporters with his statement about the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee. (Diane-Lu Hovasse / AFP / Getty Images)
10. Speech by the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev on August 20, 1991 on television. In it, he reports that an unconstitutional putsch is taking place in the country, and everything is in order with his health. (NBC TV / AFP / Getty Images)
11. A demonstrator attacks a Soviet soldier near the White House on August 19, 1991. On this day, thousands of people in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities of the country began to erect barricades along the path of armored vehicles and troops. (Dima Tanin / AFP / Getty Images)
12. A demonstrator communicates with a Soviet soldier on the evening of August 20, 1991 (Andre Durand / AFP / Getty Images)
13. Demonstrators play guitars and chat with soldiers in front of the White House on August 20, 1991 (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
14. People on the barricades in front of the White House on August 21, 1991 (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
15. A soldier waves a tricolor from his combat vehicle, while the rest of the military equipment leaves their lines after the suppression of the coup on August 21, 1991. The leaders of the putsch fled the capital or committed suicide. (Willy Slingerland / AFP / Getty Images)
16. A crowd of cheering people outside the Russian government building celebrates the end of the coup on August 22, 1991. (AP Photo) #
17. Celebrations in honor of the failure of the coup and in memory of those killed in August 1991 (AFP / EPA / Alain-Pierre Hovasse)
18. Demolition of the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanskaya Square in Moscow on August 22, 1991. (Anatoly Sapronenkov / AFP / Getty Images) #
19. A resident of Baku cuts a portrait of the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, with an ax. On September 21, 1991, Azerbaijan was declared a Soviet republic in 1920, and in 1991 the National Council of Azerbaijan voted for independence. (Anatoly Sapronenkov / AFP / Getty Images)
20. The woman put the bag on the hammer and sickle dropped from the pedestal. December 25, 2011 was the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the USSR. (Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty Images)
21. A young Lithuanian woman sits on a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Vilnius on September 1, 1991. (Gerard Fouet / AFP / Getty Images)
22. The Soviet family watches the appeal of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev to resign on December 25, 1991. Gorbachev's reforms gave the inhabitants of the red empire freedom, but at the same time led to its destruction. (AP Photo / Sergei Kharpukhin)
23. One of the last evenings when the red flag flies over the Kremlin and Red Square, Saturday evening, December 21, 1991. The flag was changed to the Russian tricolor on New Year's Eve. (AP Photo / Gene Berman)
