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| June–Aug. 13 |
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| Market economy reform plan: the USSR Supreme Soviet ordered major revisions to a program that aimed at accelerating the introduction of a market economy. The price rises the program entailed had aroused fierce opposition among politicians and the public. In August Gorbachev and Yeltsin agreed to sponsor a commission of experts working on the transition to a market economy. On Aug. 9 the USSR Council of Ministers passed a resolution to legalize small businesses and to allow private individuals to establish, buy, or sell a business and to hire labor. | 1 |
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| June |
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| Sovereignty Declarations by Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, and Moldova. On June 12 the Russian Federation, the largest and most powerful republic of the Soviet Union, declared itself a sovereign state with the right to determine its own economic and political future and “the right to freely leave the USSR.” On June 20 the Uzbek Supreme Soviet adopted a declaration of Uzbekistan's sovereignty within a “renewed Soviet federation” and of the supremacy of Uzbekistan's laws in its territory. On June 23 Moldavia (Moldova) declared its sovereignty and asserted the supremacy of the Moldavian constitution and laws throughout the republic now called Moldova. | 2 |
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| July 2–13 |
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| The 28th Congress of the CPSU. Even in the face of resurgent conservatism, Gorbachev was able to sway some key votes his way. Gorbachev was reelected general secretary on July 10. | 3 |
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| July 16 |
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| The Ukraine declared its sovereignty. Going further than Uzbekistan or Moldova, it declared the right to have its own armed forces, internal security troops, and state security bodies. | 4 |
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| July 27 |
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| Belorussia (Belarus) declared itself sovereign, giving itself the right to voluntary unions with other states and the freedom to withdraw from such unions. | 5 |
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| Aug |
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| Independence and sovereignty declarations: Armenia declared its independence (Aug. 23) and changed its name to the Republic of Armenia (a referendum in Sept. 1991 favored independence). Turkmenistan (Aug. 22) and Tajikistan (Aug. 25) joined the list of republics declaring their sovereignty and the precedence of their constitutions and laws over those of the Soviet Union. | 6 |
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| Aug. 9 |
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| The Council of Ministers passed a resolution allowing private individuals to establish, buy, and sell businesses and to hire labor. This represented the first departure from Marxism's prohibition on private ownership. | 7 |
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| Aug. 15 |
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| Gorbachev restored Soviet citizenship to many intellectuals who had been exiled, including writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Voinovich, poet Irina Ratushinskaya, historian Lev Kopelev, chess player Viktor Korchnoi, and physicist Yury Orlov. | 8 |
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| Sept. 24 |
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| The Supreme Soviet granted Gorbachev emergency presidential powers, which gave him the ability to dictate economic reforms, manage the state budget, and supervise law and order. | 9 |
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| Oct. 1 |
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| The improvement in church-state relations since 1988 culminated in the passage of a law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations, marking the end of state persecution of believers. | 10 |
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| Oct. 19 |
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| The USSR Supreme Soviet approved an outline program to create a market economic system. This momentous decision to abandon the 60-year-old centralized, state-controlled economy was overshadowed by unresolved, bitter arguments over how to proceed. The plan included abandonment of direct state participation in economic activity, price freedom, competition between producers, and full responsibility of organizations, enterprises, and workers for better economic results. The Supreme Soviet also adopted a law that for the first time in Soviet history allowed workers the right to strike. | 11 |
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| Oct. 25 |
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| Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty. | 12 |
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