Key Dates and Events of Perestroika

In a sense, Perestroika in the USSR is a chronological chain of events. This section of the website presents the key events of this period in the history of the USSR. In turn, the tabular format allows for a more concise and structured presentation. Each specific date corresponds to a specific event

Date	Event
March 11, 1985	Election of Mikhail Gorbachev as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (Gorbachev became the leader of the USSR)
November 19, 1985	The first meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan. The meeting took place in Geneva.
April 26, 1986	The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident.
January 27-28, 1987	The January Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. The report by Mikhail Gorbachev "On Perestroika and the Party's Personnel Policy" marked the beginning of extensive transformations in many areas. Essentially, this marked the start of the Perestroika itself.
May 26, 1988	The Adoption of the Law on Cooperatives. Cooperatives (essentially private companies) were granted the right to hire labor. Essentially, this date marked the beginning of entrepreneurship in modern Russian history. For the Soviet planned economy, this marked a sharp departure from the existing economic system. Essentially, state companies now had competitors – private firms (cooperatives) – albeit with certain restrictions.
February 15, 1989	Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan
May 25 - June 9, 1989	The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. This congress was televised on Soviet television. The platform for expressing their own views was now available not only to representatives of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
June 12, 1990	The adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
October 3, 1990	Reunification of Germany (GDR joining the Federal Republic of Germany)
June 12, 1991	The election of Boris Yeltsin as the President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
August 18 - 21, 1991	August Coup. State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP)
September 6, 1991	The State Council of the USSR recognizes the full independence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
December 8, 1991	The Belovezha Accords. The leaders of Russia (Boris Yeltsin), Ukraine (Leonid Kravchuk), and Belarus (Stanislav Shushkevich) signed an agreement to establish the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).
December 25, 1991	The resignation of M.S. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR. 7:37 PM - lowering of the USSR flag over the Kremlin.