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| 1991, Jan |
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| Soviet forces intervened in the newly independent Baltic republics by seizing key buildings and installations. The crackdown caused deaths and provoked an international outcry. On Jan. 7, the USSR Defense Ministry ordered paratroopers into Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as into Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and parts of Ukraine under the excuse of enforcing conscription. On Jan. 10, President Gorbachev ordered the restoration of the Soviet constitution in Lithuania. On Jan. 31, Iceland became the first country to recognize Lithuania as an independent state. | 1 |
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| Jan. 22 |
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| A presidential decree outlawed 50- and 100-ruble banknotes (the highest denominations). The decree was intended to wipe out the illegal cash holding of black marketeers, who supposedly had been draining 20 percent of the money supply. On Feb. 12 Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov announced that the January withdrawal of the notes was the result of a Western plot to flood the Soviet economy and create artificial hyperinflation. | 2 |
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| Feb. 19 |
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| In a TV broadcast, Russian Federation leader Boris Yeltsin launched a personal attack on Gorbachev and demanded his immediate resignation. He accused Gorbachev of bringing the country to dictatorship and “absolute personal power.” The Gorbachev-Yeltsin rivalry continued with Yeltsin campaigning for a “no” vote in the all-union referendum and Gorbachev working for a “yes,” to “preserve the integrity of the state which is a thousand years old.” | 3 |
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| March 17 |
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| The all-union referendum on the preservation of the Soviet Union took place, and 76.4 percent of the voters voted “yes” according to the official report. Six republics (Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova) refused to participate in the referendum. | 4 |
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| March 31 |
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| The military alliance of the Warsaw Pact ended. | 5 |
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| April 9 |
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| The Georgian Supreme Soviet adopted a formal declaration of the “restoration of state independence” after a favorable referendum on March 31. | 6 |
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| April 23 |
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| President Gorbachev signed a pact with 9 of the 15 union republics (the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Ukraine, and Uzbekistan). The pact gave broad support to the central government's proposed measures to stabilize the economy, including a clampdown on political strikes. | 7 |
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| May 20 |
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| The Supreme Soviet of the USSR passed a law allowing free travel and emigration from the Soviet Union. | 8 |
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| June 12 |
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| Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Federation (RFSFR) in the first general election in Russian history, and was sworn in on July 10. | 9 |
| In a poll, the people of Leningrad voted (55 percent to 43 percent) to change the name of the city to St. Petersburg. It had been called St. Petersburg in 1703, after Peter the Great, and in 1924 had been renamed in honor of Lenin. | 10 |
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| July 1 |
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| The Supreme Soviet passed a bill on the basic principles of destatization (transfer of state assets to joint stock companies) and privatization (the sale of shares to private individuals) of enterprises. The law envisaged denationalization of 40 to 50 percent of state assets by the end of 1992 and of 60 to 70 percent by 1995. | 11 |
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| July 2 |
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| The Supreme Soviet passed legislation allowing republics to draft their own criminal codes within certain guidelines. | 12 |
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| July 23 |
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| The Soviet Union decided to apply for full membership in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. | 13 |
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