Editing Multinational state (section)

===Soviet Union===
[[File:Map of the ethnic groups of the Soviet Union.png|thumb|250px|Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1970]]
The [[Soviet Union]] was a state composed of the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]] (of which there were 15 after 1956), with the capital in [[Moscow]]. It was founded in December 1922, when the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]]—which formed during the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] and emerged victorious in the ensuing [[Russian Civil War]]—unified with the [[Transcaucasian SSR|Transcaucasian]], [[Ukrainian SSR|Ukrainian]], and [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Belarusian SSRs]]. Addressing the Extraordinary Eighth [[Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union]] on 25 November 1936, [[Joseph Stalin]] stated that "within the Soviet Union there are about sixty nations, national groups, and nationalities. The Soviet state is a multinational state."<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/11/25.htm On the Draft Constitution of the U.S.S.R] marxists.org, accessed 15 January 2011</ref> Among the 15 republics were the [[Baltic states]] of [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]], which were illegally annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940. The Soviet [[occupation of the Baltic states]] was not recognized by a number of Western governments including the [[United States]].

In the late 1980s, some of the republics sought sovereignty over their territories, citing Article 72 of the [[Constitution of the Soviet Union|USSR Constitution]], which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede.<ref>[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705 The red blues&nbsp;— Soviet politics] by Brian Crozier, ''[[National Review]]'', 25 June 1990.</ref> On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for secession in a referendum.<ref>[http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it] by V.A.Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia.</ref> Many held free elections, and the resulting legislatures soon passed bills that contradicted Soviet laws, in what became known as the [[War of Laws]].

In 1989, the Russian SFSR—the largest constituent republic, with about half of the USSR's population—convened a new [[Congress of People's Deputies of Russia|Congress of People's Deputies]] and elected [[Boris Yeltsin]] its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress [[Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory]] and proceeded to pass legislation that attempted to supersede Soviet laws. Legal uncertainty continued through 1991 as constituent republics slowly gained ''de facto'' independence.

In [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|a referendum]] on 17 March 1991, majorities in nine of the 15 republics voted to preserve the Union. The referendum gave Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] a minor boost, and in the summer of 1991, the [[New Union Treaty]] was designed and agreed upon by eight republics. The treaty would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation, but its signing was interrupted by the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August Coup]]—an attempted [[coup d'état]] against Gorbachev by hardline [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] members of the government and the [[KGB]], who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. When the coup collapsed, Yeltsin—who had publicly opposed it—came out as a hero, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended.

As a result, the balance of power tipped significantly toward the republics. In August 1991, [[Latvia]] and [[Estonia]] had regained their independence (following [[Lithuania]]'s 1990 example), while the other twelve republics continued to discuss new, increasingly loose models for the Union.

On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed the [[Belavezha Accords]], which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS) in its place. Doubts remained about the authority of the Belavezha Accords to dissolve the Union, but on 21 December 1991, representatives of every Soviet republic except [[Georgian SSR|Georgia]]—including those that had signed the Belavezha Accords—signed the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]], which confirmed the dissolution of the USSR and reiterated the establishment of the CIS. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev yielded, resigning as the president of the USSR and declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers vested in the Soviet presidency over to Yeltsin, the president of Russia.

The following day, the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]], the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, dissolved itself. Many organizations, such as the [[Soviet Army]] and [[Militsiya|police forces]], remained in place in the early months of 1992, but were slowly phased out and either withdrawn from or absorbed by the newly independent states.