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The Soviet Union was officially dissolved on December 26, 1991; however, most of the Soviet Socialist Republics had already claimed their independence or sovereignty before this date. After a decade of economic stagnation and decline across the Eastern Bloc, Lithuania became the first Soviet Republic to claim independence on March 11, 1990, which created a domino effect for similar motions across the Soviet Union.

Regional differences

In most European post-Soviet states, each respective parliament declared its independence, before this was later ratified or approved by a popular vote; Russia and Belarus were the only two European states not to do so. In the Caucasus region, Georgia and Armenia declared their independence after their referendums, while Azerbaijan did so before, and only two of the five Central Asian states held referendums at all. In most cases, over 90 percent of the valid votes were in favor of independence, with figures exceeding 99.5 percent in Georgia and Azerbaijan. At 25 and 22 percent respectively, Latvia and Estonia had the highest share of votes against independence, although it is believed that these figures were swayed by the fact that resident Soviet military personnel were allowed to vote.

Ukraine

Ukraine was the most populous and economically powerful Soviet Republic after Russia, and its declaration of independence on August 24, 1991 was seen as the largest blow to Soviet unity. In the referendum three months later, over 92 percent of valid votes were in favor of independence. The majority of votes were in favor of independence in every region; however, the lowest figures were in Crimea and Sevastopol, at around 55 percent, and this region was annexed by Russia 23 years later. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine after it formally recognized the independence of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk; in 1991, around 84 percent of votes from both regions favored Ukrainian independence.