Union of Sovereign States

Union republics that wanted to sign the treaty (red), those who wanted to sign the treaty but pleaded for independence after the August coup (orange), as well as those who sought independence (black).

The Union of Sovereign States ( Russian: Сою́з Сувере́нных Госуда́рств (ССГ) Soyuz Suwerennych Gossudarstw (SSG) ) was the name proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev for a reorganized Soviet Union as a confederation .

One day before the signing of the treaty to form the Union, the August coup in Moscow took place on August 19, 1991, as a result of which the treaty was not signed and the Soviet Union fell apart.

The Commonwealth of Independent States then emerged from the idea of a confederation .

history

The new treaty was intended to replace the 1922 treaty establishing the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union itself with a new, supranational entity . Gorbachev's main concern was to stop the collapse of the Soviet Union and to fundamentally reform it. The preparations for the formation of the new confederation of states, especially in the successor states of the Soviet Union, based on the residence of the Soviet president, became known as the Novo-Ogaryovo process , as this was where the main negotiations between the heads of government of the Union republics and Gorbachev took place.

The first proposal for the formation of a decentralized, federal Soviet Union was presented by Gorbachev in July 1990 at the 28th Congress of the CPSU . The draft was sent to the Supreme Soviet on November 23, 1990, which then formed a committee to revise the text. This started work on January 1, 1991. Already at this point it was foreseeable that the Soviet Union would not be able to survive in its entirety. Since the Armenian SSR , the Estonian SSR , the Georgian SSR , the Latvian SSR , the Lithuanian SSR and the Moldovan SSR were striving for independence, their representatives refused to cooperate on the text.

The Supreme Soviet finally approved the text on March 6, which was then forwarded to the Soviets of the Union Republics for ratification . On March 17th, a referendum was held in nine union republics, which resulted in an approval of 76% and a majority in all nine republics for the continuation of the chosen path. The referendum was largely boycotted in the six independent republics.

On April 23, the Joint Declaration on the Continuity of the Soviet Union (9 + 1 Agreement) between the nine Union Republics and the Soviet Central Government was signed in Novo-Ogaryovo. It was agreed that the Soviet Union should be transformed into a confederation of independent states with a common president, common foreign policy and common armed forces.

By August, eight of the nine republics had ratified the treaty. Ukraine did not agree to the terms of the treaty or only under the terms of its declaration of independence, which was also reflected in the referendum on March 17.

Although the treaty was intended to strengthen the Union, the communists feared that some smaller member states, particularly Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, would now insist on complete independence.

One day before the planned solemn signing of the treaty by the President of the Russian SFSR , Boris Yeltsin , the August coup took place in Moscow, the crushing of which dashed hopes for the continued existence of a state union, albeit a decentralized one.

designation

In the first draft of the agreement was for the state union of the name Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics ( Russian Союз Советских Суверенных Республик Soyuz Sowjetskich Suwerennych Respublik ) proposed bringing the abbreviation Soviet Union and the reduction USSR or СССР would be preserved.

By November 1991 it became clear that the continued existence of any kind of communist state was unrealistic. Thus the new name Union of Sovereign States ( Russian Сою́з Сувере́нных Госуда́рств (ССГ) ) was created. Later it became the Commonwealth of Independent States ( Содружество Независимых Государств (СНГ) / Sodruschestvo Nesawissimych Gossudarstw (SNG) ).

Participating states

map	flag	Name of the Union Republic	Today's flag	Today's state
		Azerbaijani SSR Азәрбајҹан ССР		Republic of Azerbaijan Azərbaycan Respublikası
		Kazakh SSR Қазақ КСР		Republic of Kazakhstan Қазақстан Республикасы
		Kyrgyz SSR Кыргыз ССР		Kyrgyz Republic Кыргыз Республикасы Kırgız Respublikası
		Russian SFSR Российская СФСР		Russian Federation * Российская Федерация
		Tajik SSR РСС Тоҷикистон		Republic of Tajikistan Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон Jumhurii Todschikiston
		Turkmen SSR Түркменистан ССР		Republic of Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan Jumhuriyäti
		Ukrainian SSR Українська РСР		Ukraine Україна
		Uzbek SSR Ўзбекистон ССР		Republic of Uzbekistan Oʻzbekiston Respublikasi
		Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic Беларуская ССР		Republic of Belarus Рэспубліка Беларусь

Non-participating states

map	flag	Name of the Union Republic	Today's flag	Today's state
		Armenian SSR Հայկական ՍՍՀ		Republic of Armenia Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն
		Estonian SSR Eesti NSV		Republic of Estonia Eesti Vabariik
		Georgian SSR საქართველოს სსრ		Georgia საქართველო
		Latvian SSR Latvijas PSR		Republic of Latvia Latvijas Republika
		Lithuanian SSR Lietuvos TSR		Republic of Lithuania Lietuvos Respublika
		Moldovan SSR РСС Молдовеняскэ RSS Moldovenească		Republic of Moldova Republica Moldova