90% of Ukrainians vote for independence
Alma-Ata accords: all remaining Soviet republics are included in the CIS
Baltic Way: 2 million people demonstrate in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
Belavezha accords: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus agree to dissolve the USSR and replace it with the CIS
Chernobyl disaster
Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
Election of Boris Yeltsin
Failed coup against Gorbachev
Fall of the Berlin Wall
First call for perestroika
Gorbachev assumes power
Inauguration of Lech Wałęsa
Lithuania is the first republic to hold free elections
Lithuania is the first republic to secede
Reunification of Germany
Romanian Revolution
Russian Soviets are disbanded
The Supreme Soviet gives the final approval to the dissolution