query: who seized ukraine and belarus to form the soviet union

pos: History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–27) Poland's Józef Piłsudski envisioned a new federation (Międzymorze), forming a Polish-led East European bloc to form a bulwark against Russia and Germany, while the Russian SFSR considered carrying the revolution westward by force. When Piłsudski carried out a military thrust into Ukraine in 1920, he was met by a Red Army offensive that drove into Polish territory almost to Warsaw. However, Piłsudski halted the Soviet advance at the Battle of Warsaw and resumed the offensive. The "Peace of Riga" signed in early 1921 split the territory of Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and Soviet Russia. On 29 December 1922 a

pos: Polish–Soviet War Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921) was fought by the Second Polish Republic, Ukrainian People's Republic and the proto–Soviet Union (Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine) for control of a region comparable to today's westernmost Ukraine and parts of modern Belarus. Poland's Chief of State, Józef Piłsudski, felt the time was right to expand Polish borders as far east as feasible, to be followed by a Polish-led "Intermarium" federation of Central and Eastern European states, as a bulwark against the re-emergence of German and Russian imperialism. Vladimir Lenin saw Poland as the bridge the Red Army had

pos: Allies of World War II the negotiations following German and Finnish objections. The Soviet Union and Germany at this time competed with each other for influence in Poland. The Soviet government also was concerned with the anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland and particularly Józef Piłsudski's proposed Polish federation that would include the territories of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine within it that threatened the territorial integrity of the Soviet Union. On 20 August 1939, forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under General Georgy Zhukov, together with the People's Republic of Mongolia eliminated the threat of conflict in the east with a victory over Imperial

neg: Constitution of Belarus Bolsheviks, Belarus became a Soviet Republic (USSR), and a new constitution was adopted. Belarus continued to use this constitution until it – along with Russia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasus – signed a treaty to form the Soviet Union. Now the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR), the country adopted its first Soviet-era constitution in 1927, complementing the recently adopted Soviet Constitution. After a re-adoption in 1937, the Byelorussian SSR adopted its last Soviet-era constitution in 1978, mainly to reflect changes made in the 1977 Soviet Constitution. When Belarus became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Supreme Soviet of

neg: 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) agreed to a new union treaty that would form a confederation called the Union of Sovereign States. However, this confederation never materialized. On 8 December Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich—respectively leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (which adopted that name in August 1991)—as well as the prime ministers of the republics met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they signed the Belavezha Accords. This document declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality." It repudiated the 1922 union

neg: Dissolution of the Soviet Union December 1, 1991, in which 90 percent of voters opted for independence. The secession of Ukraine, long second only to Russia in economic and political power, ended any realistic chance of Gorbachev keeping the Soviet Union together even on a limited scale. The leaders of the three principal Slavic republics, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia), agreed to discuss possible alternatives to the union. On December 8, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus secretly met in Belavezhskaya Pushcha, in western Belarus, and signed the Belavezha Accords, which proclaimed the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and announced formation of

neg: Ukraine Ukraine. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus on 8 December, followed by the Alma Ata meeting on 21 December, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On 26 December 1991 the Council of Republics of the USSR Supreme Council adapted declaration "In regards to creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States" () which de-jure dissolved the Soviet Union and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin. Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union. However,

neg: Hero of the Soviet Union series of unprecedented extreme depth diving experiments. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this title was succeeded in Russia by the title "Hero of the Russian Federation", in Ukraine by "Hero of Ukraine" and in Belarus by "Hero of Belarus". Azerbaijan's successor order is that of National Hero of Azerbaijan and Armenia's own hero medal is that of National Hero of Armenia, both modeled on the Soviet one. Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to

neg: Mikhail Gorbachev overwhelmingly voted for independence. Ukraine had been the second most powerful republic in the Soviet Union after Russia, and its secession ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying united even on a limited scale. The presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus met in Belovezha Forest, near Brest, Belarus, on 8 December and signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States as its successor. Gorbachev initially denounced this move as illegal. Nonetheless, there was no longer any doubt that the Soviet Union, in the words of the

neg: Irredentism in wars such as the Thirty Years' War and Second Northern War. Kresy ("Borderlands") are the eastern lands that formerly belonged to Poland. In 1921, Polish troops crossed the Curzon Line, the border between ethnic Polish and ethnic Ukrainian and Belorussian territories, and seized large Ukrainian and Belorussian territories, and also seized 7 percent of Lithuania's territory in 1920. These territories were re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939 under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and include major cities, like Lviv (Ukraine), Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania), and Hrodna (Belarus). Even though "Kresy", or the "Eastern Borderlands", are no longer Polish territories,

neg: Telephone numbers in the Soviet Union of the European part of the USSR. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these codes in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were preserved, with minor changes. Area codes in the Ukraine and Belarus later dropped initial 0. In Russia, in December 2005 the leading zero in the Oblastal area codes was replaced by a 4. Telephone numbers in the Soviet Union The telephone numbering plan of the USSR was a set of telephone area codes, numbers and dialing rules, which operated in the Soviet Union until the 1990s. After the collapse of the USSR, many newly independent republics implemented their

neg: Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia, Volhynia and Northern Bukovina well as Polish Jews dominant in the cities. These lands now form the backbone of modern Western Ukraine and West Belarus. In June 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Romania, demanding the ceding of Northern Bukovina, a region with a large ethnic Ukrainian population. The Soviet troops rolled into Estonia as well in mid June 1940 and established the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union there. The annexation of the Polish territories, which were added to Soviet Byelorussia, and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic alone, resulted in the Soviet state gaining , and

neg: Belarus–Ukraine relations Belarus–Ukraine relations Belarus–Ukraine relations (, "Byelaruska-ŭkrainskiya adnosiny", , "Ukrains'ko-Bilorus'ki vidnosyny", , "Belorussko-ukrainskiye otnosheniya") are foreign relations between Belarus and Ukraine. Both countries were successively ruled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Second Polish Republic, and ultimately, the Russian Empire. Prior to the 1991 breakup, both countries were part of the Soviet Union as the Belarusian SSR and Ukrainian SSR when they were the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. Being Slavic nations, both Belarus and Ukraine share closely related cultures and are predominantly inhabited by the East Slavic ethnic groups of Belarusians and Ukrainians respectively, along with a few

neg: History of Belarus declared its national sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union. The BSSR was formally renamed the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. Around that time, Stanislav Shushkevich became the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, the top leadership position in Belarus. On 8 December 1991, Shushkevich met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine, in Belavezhskaya Pushcha, to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1994, the first presidential elections were held and Alexander Lukashenko was elected president of Belarus. The

neg: Russia–Ukraine relations Russia could not accept the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine. According to a 2006 poll by VCIOM 66% of all Russians regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union. 50% of respondents in Ukraine in a similar poll held in February 2005 stated they regret the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In 2005 (71%) and 2007 (48%) polls, Russians expressed a wish to unify with Ukraine; although a unification solely with Belarus was more popular. A poll released on 5 November 2009 showed that 55% of Russians believed that the relationship with Ukraine should be a

neg: Poles in the Soviet Union significant Polish minorities: The Polish population in the Soviet Union peaked in 1959, decreased by about 20% by 1970, and then decreased extremely slowly between 1970 and 1989. Poles in the Soviet Union The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who used to reside in the Soviet Union before its 1991 dissolution (in the Autumn of Nations), and who live in post-Soviet, sovereign countries of Europe and Asia as their significant minorities at present time, including the Kresy macroregion (Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine), Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan among others. Millions of Poles lived within the

neg: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine to become a nuclear power again. Nuclear weapons and Ukraine Prior to 1991, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and had Soviet nuclear weapons in its territory. On December 1, 1991, Ukraine, the second most powerful republic in the Soviet Union (USSR), voted overwhelmingly for independence, which ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for Ukraine's declaration of independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk as the first president of the country. At the meetings in Brest, Belarus

neg: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine Nuclear weapons and Ukraine Prior to 1991, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and had Soviet nuclear weapons in its territory. On December 1, 1991, Ukraine, the second most powerful republic in the Soviet Union (USSR), voted overwhelmingly for independence, which ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for Ukraine's declaration of independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk as the first president of the country. At the meetings in Brest, Belarus on December 8, and in Alma

neg: Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic along with Russia and Ukraine, of the Belavezha Accords, which replaced the Soviet Union with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Belarus received independence on 25 December 1991. A day later the Soviet Union ceased to exist. However, the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Republic of Belarus of 1978, was retained after independence. Byelorussia was a one-party socialist republic, governed by the Communist Party of Byelorussia, a branch within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU/KPSS). Like all other Soviet republics, it was one of the 15 constituent republics composing the Soviet Union from its entry into the union in

neg: Eastern Bloc emigration and defection Red Army's entry into Minsk in 1919, Belarus was declared the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia. After more conflict, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was declared in 1920. With the defeat of Ukraine in the Polish-Ukrainian War, after the March 1921 Peace of Riga following the Polish-Soviet War, central and eastern Ukraine were annexed into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1922, the Russian SFSR, Ukraine SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR were officially merged as republics creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union. During the final stages of World War II, the

neg: Taiwan–Ukraine relations as an alternative to China's representation in the United Nations, citing the Soviet Union, Soviet Belarus and Soviet Ukraine as examples. At the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, the Soviet Ukrainian representatives along with majority of the UN members voted support to expel the representatives of Taiwan. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine, the Taiwanese government became actively trying to persuade Ukraine to build diplomatic relations again. On January 1992, Taiwan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Chiang Hsiao-yen made a diplomatic visit to Kyiv and discussed with Ukrainian officials about establishing formal relations

neg: Poles in the Soviet Union Poles in the Soviet Union The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who used to reside in the Soviet Union before its 1991 dissolution (in the Autumn of Nations), and who live in post-Soviet, sovereign countries of Europe and Asia as their significant minorities at present time, including the Kresy macroregion (Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine), Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan among others. Millions of Poles lived within the Russian Empire following the military Partitions of Poland throughout the 19th century. As Austria, Germany, and Russia took over Polish lands during World War I, many Poles were

neg: Peace of Riga fully incorporated into the USSR. However, in 1989, Poland would regain its full sovereignty, and soon afterwards, with the fall of the Soviet Union, Belarus and Ukraine would go on to become independent nations. Peace of Riga The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga (), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet War. The Soviet-Polish borders established by the treaty remained in force until the Second World War. They were later redrawn during the Yalta Conference

neg: Lisbon Protocol of the Lisbon Protocol was complete when both Belarus and Ukraine had surrendered their nuclear weapons to Russia by the end of 1996. Lisbon Protocol The Lisbon Protocol to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was an agreement by representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan that all nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union on the soil of those four states would be destroyed or transferred to the control of Russia. All four states agreed to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, with Russia the successor to the Soviet Union as a nuclear state, and the

neg: Raion by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed. Following the model of the Soviet Union raions have been introduced in Bulgaria, Romania. In China the term is used in Uyghur in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In Romania they have been later replaced. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, raions as administrative units continue to be used in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. They are also used in breakaway regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria. In Georgia they exist as districts in Tbilisi. Abkhazia is divided into seven districts. In Belarus, raions ()

neg: Hero of Belarus Hero of Belarus Hero of Belarus (, "Hieroj Biełarusi"; ) is the highest title that can be bestowed on a citizen of Belarus. The title is awarded to those "who perform great deeds in the name of freedom, independence and prosperity of the Republic of Belarus". The deed can be for military performance, economic performance or great service to the State and society. The design of the medal is similar to that of its predecessor, Hero of the Soviet Union. Similar titles to the Hero of Belarus include the Hero of the Russian Federation, Hero of Ukraine, and Hero of

neg: History of Ukraine SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. On December 1, voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union. Over 90% of Ukrainian citizens voted for independence, with majorities in every region, including 56% in Crimea. The Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on December 26, when the presidents of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (the founding members of the USSR) met in Białowieża Forest to formally dissolve the Union in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. With this Ukraine's independence was formalized de jure and recognized by the international community. (Also) on 1 December 1991 Ukrainian voters

neg: Comecon now members of the Visegrad Group. The Russian Federation, the successor to the Soviet Union along with Ukraine and Belarus founded the Commonwealth of Independent States which consists of the ex-Soviet republics. The country also leads the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and the Eurasian Economic Union with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Along with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova are also part of the GUAM. Vietnam and Laos joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1995 and 1997 respectively. 1964: 1950: 1956: 1976: 1984: 1986: In the late 1950s, a number of communist-ruled non-member countries

neg: All-Russian nation project "a triune Russian nation as the focus of the Soviet Union." The textbooks published in 1937 reestablished the unity of the Russian state, and connected Russian history from Kievan Rus' to the Soviet Union, and presented the annexation of Ukraine in the 17th century as "liberation and reunification." After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent independence of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the concept of either an All-Russian or Soviet people has lost its ideological significance. Instead, the conceptions that deny the trinity or a kindredship between these nations have experienced However, Post-Soviet Russian nationalists continue to

neg: Chernobyl disaster of the Belorussian SSR by the Soviet air force to remove radioactive particles from clouds heading toward highly populated areas. Heavy, black-coloured rain fell on the city of Gomel. Reports from Soviet and Western scientists indicate that Belarus received about 60% of the contamination that fell on the former Soviet Union. However, the 2006 TORCH report stated that half of the volatile particles had landed outside Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. A large area in Russia south of Bryansk was also contaminated, as were parts of northwestern Ukraine. Studies in surrounding countries indicate that over one million people could have been

neg: State Border of Ukraine the Ukrainian border is . In reality Ukraine does not have real established and ratified borders with Russia, Belarus, and Moldova (republics of the former Soviet Union). The borders with other countries were inherited from the Soviet border patrol service which was recreated into the Ukrainian after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1994, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances promised, inter alia, that its signatories (the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom) would respect Ukraine's existing borders. Ukraine also exclusively leased until 2017 part of territory of Sevastopol municipality to the Russian Black

neg: Ukraine the latter in August 1921. Poland defeated Western Ukraine in the Polish-Ukrainian War, but failed against the Bolsheviks in an offensive against Kiev. According to the Peace of Riga, western Ukraine was incorporated into Poland, which in turn recognised the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in March 1919. With establishment of the Soviet power, Ukraine lost half of its territory to Poland, Belarus and Russia, while on the left bank of Dniester River was created Moldavian autonomy. Ukraine became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. The war in Ukraine continued for another two years;

neg: Western Ukraine 1918. Following the defeat of Ukrainian People's Republic (1918) in the Ukrainian–Soviet War of 1921, Western Ukraine was partitioned by the Treaty of Riga between Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet Russia acting on behalf of the Soviet Belarus and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic with capital in Kharkiv. The Soviet Union gained control over the entire territory of the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic east of the border with Poland. In the Interbellum most of the territory of today's Western Ukraine belonged to the Second Polish Republic. Territories such as Bukovina and Carpatho-Ukraine belonged to Romania and Czechoslovakia, respectively. At

neg: History of Belarus Russians in Belarus. Russian became the official language of administration and the peasant class, which traditionally was the base for Belarusian nation, ceased to exist. On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl disaster occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine situated close to the border with Belarus. It is regarded as the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power. It produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of roughly 200,000

neg: Revolutions of 1989 began taking over what remained of it, including the Kremlin. The penultimate step came on 1 December, when voters in the second most powerful republic, Ukraine, overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Soviet Union in a referendum. This ended any realistic chance of keeping the Soviet Union together. On 8 December, Yeltsin met with his counterparts from Ukraine and Belarus and signed the Belavezha Accords, declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Gorbachev denounced this as illegal, but he had long since lost any ability to influence events outside of Moscow. Two weeks later, 11 of the remaining

neg: Osadnik Osadnik Osadniks (, "settler/settlers, colonist/colonists") were veterans of the Polish Army and civilians who were given or sold state land in the "Kresy" (current Western Belarus and Western Ukraine) territory ceded to Poland by Polish-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 (and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939 and ceded to it after World War II). The term is a Polish word, also a loanword used in Soviet Union. Shortly before the battle of Warsaw on August 7, 1920, the Premier of Poland, Wincenty Witos, announced that after the war volunteers and soldiers who served on the front would have

neg: Politics of Belarus at nation-building failed to stir up the same strong emotions as movements in neighboring Ukraine and the Baltic States. Although the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on July 27, 1990 (some two weeks after Russia had declared its own sovereignty), the March 1991 referendum held throughout the Soviet Union showed that 83 percent of Belarusians wanted to preserve the Soviet Union. Political change in Belarus came about only after the August 1991 coup d'état in Moscow and a display of satisfaction by the Central Committee of the

neg: Giedroyc Doctrine the "ULB doctrine", where "ULB" stands for "Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus"). Initially it was addressing the attitude of the post-World War II Polish emigres, especially around the Polish government-in-exile in London, and basically calling for the recognition of the post-war "status quo". Later it was adapted towards the goal of the moving of Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania away from the Soviet and later Russian sphere of influence. The doctrine supported the European Union and aimed at removing East-Central and East European countries from the Soviet sphere of influence. After Poland regained its independence from Soviet influence following the fall of communism

neg: Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area (CISFTA) is a free trade area between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Five CISFTA participants, all except Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Tajikistan, are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, comprising a single economic market. The Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, proposed since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, was signed on 18 October 2011 by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Armenia. The agreement replaces existing bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements between the

neg: Sovetskoye Shampanskoye brut sparkling wine made in Belarus with wine from Moldova, imported into the UK and rebranded for British tastes. In January 2016 the Ukrainian producer announced the renaming of the brand to "Sovetovskoye Shampanskoye" to comply with the decommunization law. Sovetskoye Shampanskoye Sovetskoye Shampanskoye (Советское шампанское, 'Soviet Champagne') is a generic brand of sparkling wine produced in the Soviet Union and successor states. It was produced for many years as a state-run initiative. Typically the wine is made from a blend of Aligoté and Chardonnay grapes. After the Soviet Union dissolved, private corporations in Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine purchased

neg: Belarus–Poland border Belarus–Poland border The Belarusian-Polish border is the state border between Republic of Poland (EU member) and the Republic of Belarus (Union State) It has a total length of , or (sources vary). It starts from the triple junction of the borders with Lithuania in the north and stretches to the triple junction borders with Ukraine to the south. It is also part of the EU border with Belarus. After Soviet Invasion of Poland in September 1939, the area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Five new Voblasts were created: Baranavichy, Belostok, Brest, Pinsk and Vialejka.

neg: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine Ata on December 21, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine held about one third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at the time, as well as significant means of its design and production. 130 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each, 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece, as well as 33 heavy bombers, totalling approximately 1,700 warheads remained on Ukrainian territory. Formally, these weapons were controlled by the Commonwealth

neg: Soviet Union elected President of Russia in July 1991. The remaining 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. However, by December all except Russia and Kazakhstan had formally declared independence. During this time, Yeltsin took over what remained of the Soviet government, including the Moscow Kremlin. The final blow was struck on 1 December when Ukraine, the second most powerful republic, voted overwhelmingly for independence. Ukraine's secession ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale. On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia), signed the Belavezha

neg: City of district significance (Ukraine) Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine, the term for this type of urban populated place is a city of district subordination (, ). Cities of district significance and similarly named categories date back to the forms of local government and administrative divisions of Soviet Union. In countries of the former Soviet Union, these types of cities are subject to similar characteristics and economic categories as those that are located in Ukraine. In neighboring Russia, they are referred to as cities of district significance (, ), while in Belarus, they are known as

neg: Polish population transfers (1944–1946) Union invaded eastern Poland. As a result, Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets (see Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union). With the annexation of the Kresy in 1939, modern-day Western Ukraine was annexed to Soviet Ukraine, and Western Belarus to Soviet Belorussia, respectively. Spreading terror throughout the region, the Soviet secret police (NKVD) accompanying the Red Army murdered Polish prisoners of war. From 1939 to 1941 the Soviets also forcibly deported specific social groups deemed "untrustworthy" to forced labor facilities in Kazakhstan and Siberia. Many children, elderly and sick died during the journeys in cargo trains

neg: Ice hockey at the Olympic Games officials agreed to allow players to leave following the 1989 World Championships. The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. Nine former Soviet states became part of the IIHF and started competing internationally, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Ukraine. At the 1992 Olympics, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan competed as one entity, known as the Unified Team. In the final, the Unified Team defeated Canada to win gold while Czechoslovakia won the bronze. Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in January 1993. The IIHF recognized the Czech Republic as the successor to Czechoslovakia, allowing the team to

neg: United Nations Conference on International Organization without controversy. The decision on the participation of Argentina was troubled because of Soviet opposition to Argentina membership, arguing that Argentina had supported the Axis Powers during the war. Several Latin American countries opposed the inclusion of Belarus and Ukraine unless Argentina was admitted. In the end, Argentina was admitted to the conference with support from the United States and the desire for the participation of the Soviet Union at the conference was maintained. The participation of Belarus and Ukraine at the conference came as a result of Roosevelt and Churchill's concession to Joseph Stalin, the leader of Russia. Stalin

neg: Alma-Ata Protocol the protocol allowed the Russian Federation (RSFSR) to assume the Soviet Union's UN membership, including its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Alma-Ata Protocol The Alma-Ata Protocols are the founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus had agreed to the Belavezha Accords on 8 December 1991, dissolving the Soviet Union and forming the CIS. On 21 December 1991, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan agreed to the Alma-Ata Protocols, joining the CIS. The latter agreement included the original three Belavezha signatories,

neg: Alma-Ata Protocol Alma-Ata Protocol The Alma-Ata Protocols are the founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus had agreed to the Belavezha Accords on 8 December 1991, dissolving the Soviet Union and forming the CIS. On 21 December 1991, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan agreed to the Alma-Ata Protocols, joining the CIS. The latter agreement included the original three Belavezha signatories, as well as eight additional former Soviet republics. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Georgia were the only former republics that have not participated. More surprisingly,

neg: Belarusian People's Republic Ukrainian People's Republic, organized food supplies to Belarus from Ukraine and thereby prevented hunger in the country. Diplomatic representations of Belarus had been created in Germany, Estonia, Ukraine and other countries to lobby for Belarusian interests or to support Belarusian soldiers and refugees who landed in different parts of the former Russian Empire. Beginning in 1918, Anton Łuckievič, the Prime Minister of Belarus, met with Vladimir Lenin hoping to gain recognition for the independence of Belarus by Soviet Russia. The Belarusian delegation even proposed the creation of a federation with the RSFSR and the adoption of the Soviet Constitution in

neg: Belarus Belarus, met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on 1991 in Belavezhskaya Pushcha to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus. Two-round elections for the presidency on ( 1994 and 1994) catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national prominence. He garnered 45% of the vote in the first round and 80% in the second, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14% of the vote.

neg: Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia, Volhynia and Northern Bukovina there. Ukraine and Belarus achieved independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and became nation states delineated by borders of the 50-year-old republics. "The process of amalgamation – wrote Orest Subtelny, a Canadian historian of Ukrainian descent – was not only a major aspect of the post-war period, but an event of epochal significance in the history of Ukraine." Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia, Volhynia and Northern Bukovina On the basis of a secret clause of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, capturing the eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic.

neg: Gopnik Gopnik Gopnik () is a pejorative stereotype describing a particular subculture in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other former Soviet republics to refer to young men or women of sometimes lower-class suburban areas (usually under 25 years of age) coming from families of poor education and (sometimes) income. The female form is "gopnitsa" (), and the collective noun is "gopota" (). The subculture of Gopniks has its roots in the late Russian Empire, and evolved during the 20th century in many cities in the Soviet Union. As of late 2010s, this subculture is mostly a thing of the past, although youth

neg: 24th Air Army The 138th Fighter Aviation Division joined the 24th Air Army VGK in 1980. At the dissolution of the Soviet Union this Army had forces in Belarus and Ukraine. In Ukraine forces consisted of the 32nd Bomber Aviation Division, at Starokonstantinov, the 56th Bomber Aviation Division at Cherlyany, and the 138th Fighter Aviation Division at Mirgorod. In Ukraine in 1991-92, this Army had available over 140 Su-24 Fencer, over 35 Yak-28 electronic warfare aircraft, and 40 MiG-27 Floggers and 40 Su-27 Flankers for strike escort. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union the army appears to have been inactivated. The city

neg: Victory Day Parades Victory Day Parades Victory Day Parades are celebrated on the 9th of May in various post-soviet nations, primarily Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and formerly Ukraine. The Ukrainian government in 2015 had renamed the holiday as "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II" as part of decommunization laws, but even after the change a vast amount of the populous still honors Ukrainian-Soviet troops who fought in World War 2 in the traditional Victory Day style. During the entire history of the Soviet Union, only a total of four parades ever took place in Moscow and throughout the entire Soviet Union. In

neg: Foreign relations of Poland Spain. In March 1999, Poland became a full member of NATO. Poland promoted its NATO candidacy through energetic participation in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program and through intensified individual dialogue with NATO. Poland formally joined the European Union in May 2004, along with the other members of the Visegrád group. Poland was a part of the multinational force in Iraq. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the establishment of seven new sovereign states in Poland's immediate neighborhood (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia), of which Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia (through the Kaliningrad Oblast) border Poland.

neg: Kresy in the former Soviet Union). As a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, on September 17, 1939, the Kresy territories were annexed by the Soviet Union (see Soviet invasion of Poland), and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of the "Kresy" was deported to other areas of the Soviet Union including Siberia and Kazakhstan. The new border between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was designated by a formal "Agreement on Borders and Friendship", signed on September 29, 1939. After rigged elections, communist governments for Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were formed and immediately announced their intention of joining

neg: Cinema of the Soviet Union Cinema of the Soviet Union The cinema of the Soviet Union, not to be confused with "cinema of Russia" despite films in the Russian language being predominant in the body of work so described, includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. Most prolific in their republican films, after the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and, to a lesser degree, Lithuania, Belarus and Moldavia. At the same time, the nation's film industry,

neg: Ukrainian War of Independence held by armed supporters of an independent Ukrainian state before the incorporation of Ukraine into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian SSR. In 1922, the Russian Civil War was coming to an end in the Far East, and the Communists proclaimed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as a federation of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia. The Ukrainian Soviet government was nearly powerless in the face of a centralized monolith Communist Party apparatus based in Moscow. In the new state, Ukrainians initially enjoyed a titular nation position during the nativization and Ukrainization periods. However, by 1928 Joseph Stalin had

neg: Oblast Oblast An oblast (, ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Official terms in successor states of the Soviet Union differ, but some still use a cognate of the Russian term, e.g., voblast (voblasts, voblasts, ) is used for regions of Belarus, and oblys (plural: "oblystar") for regions of Kazakhstan. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is, nevertheless, often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region". The last translation may lead to confusion, because "raion" may be

neg: All-time Olympic Games medal table outside of IOC sources. The Soviet Union is sometimes combined with the post-union team that competed in 1992. Few sources combine the Soviet Union and Russia as many republics which subsequently gained independence (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) contributed to the medal tally of the USSR. The nationalities of many medalists at the 1904 Olympics are disputed as many competitors were recent immigrants to the United States who had not yet been granted US citizenship. All-time medal counts are compiled by various sources, often adding up related results for Russia, Germany,

neg: Post-Soviet states post-Soviet experience in their daily lives.. According to July 2012 polling in Ukraine by RATING, 42% of respondents supported the formation of a unified state of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus; earlier in 2012 this support had been 48%. A 2016 poll of Russian citizens conducted by Levada Center showed that the majority viewed the collapse of the USSR negatively and felt that it could have been avoided, and an even greater number would openly welcome a revival of the Soviet system. Post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also collectively known as the former Soviet Union (FSU) or former Soviet Republics, and

neg: Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942 Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee in the Soviet Union, had the goal of establishing a territorial agreement for post-war Europe, largely divided between Britain and the Soviet Union. Stalin hoped to gain the territories once held by the Soviet Union before the losses from Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, including regaining Finland, and territory in present-day Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, and Belarus. In exchange, Britain would receive land and rights to have naval bases and maritime passage through the English Channel and the North and Baltic

neg: German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II secret police) killed more than 1,000 prisoners in June/July 1941, for example, in Chervyen, Hlybokaye and Vileyka. These crimes stoked anti-Communist feelings in the Belarusian population and were used by Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda. After twenty months of Soviet rule in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Eastern Belarus suffered particularly heavily during the fighting and German occupation. Following bloody encirclement battles, all of the present-day Belarus territory was occupied by the Germans by the end of August 1941. With Poland regarding the Soviet annexation as illegal, the

neg: Foreign relations of Belarus closed the country's main Polish newspaper, printing a bogus paper instead with the same name and size that praises his incumbent government. Several foreign, mainly Polish, journalists have been arrested or expelled from the country. Lukashenko accused Poland of an attempt to overthrow his government by stirring up a peaceful revolution in Belarus comparable to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004. Later in 2005 the Belarusian riot police seized the headquarters of the Union of Poles in Belarus, an association representing the 400,000 ethnic minority Polish living in western areas the country that were part of Poland until World

neg: Soviet partisans ‘pacify’ the local populace. Nationalities outside the Soviet Union took an active part in the Soviet partisan movement. About 7 thousand Poles served among the partisans, as well as hundreds of Czechs and Slovaks in the detachments of Ukraine. Slovak partisans in the Crimea and Odessa assisted Soviet partisans. Groups of Romanians also served among Crimean partisans. More than 700 Hungarians became partisans in Ukraine and Belarus formations, including Paul Erden and Joszef Meyer. Yugoslavs, French, Belgians, Serbs, and Croats served in various units. A significant number of Soviet citizens were outside Soviet borders during the war and many took

neg: Oblast Serbian Krajina and the Republika Srpska. Oblast An oblast (, ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Official terms in successor states of the Soviet Union differ, but some still use a cognate of the Russian term, e.g., voblast (voblasts, voblasts, ) is used for regions of Belarus, and oblys (plural: "oblystar") for regions of Kazakhstan. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is, nevertheless, often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region". The last translation may lead

neg: Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic including governments in exile of Ukraine and the Baltic countries, the Rada protested against human rights violations in the Soviet Union. In the 1950s the Rada BNR enabled the creation of the Belarusian edition of Radio Free Europe. Members of the Rada organized support to Belarus following the Chernobyl accident of 1986. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, similar governments-in-exile of the neighboring countries (Lithuania, Poland and others) handed back their mandates to the corresponding independent governments. Upon declaration of independence of the Republic of Belarus in 1990, interest in the Belarusian Democratic Republic has increased

neg: Soviet Union in World War II occupied pursuant to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, which Churchill tabled. In 1944, the Soviet Union made significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany, including Operation Bagration, a massive offensive in Belarus against the German Army Group Centre. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill closely coordinated, such that Bagration occurred at roughly the same time as American and British forces initiation of the invasion of German held Western Europe on France's northern coast. The operation resulted in the Soviets retaking Belarus and western Ukraine, along with the successful effective destruction of the Army Group Centre and 300,000 German casualties, though at the

neg: Presidency of Boris Yeltsin Kravchuk, and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, which led to negotiations on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 8, 1991, the presidents of Ukraine, Russia and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus signed the Belavezha Agreement on creation of the CIS, which states that "the USSR, as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality ceased to exist". The agreement was signed despite the referendum on preserving the Soviet Union, which took place March 17, 1991. On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of Russia.

neg: Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction in 1986 in a congressional meeting. According to the CTR website, "the purpose of the CTR Program is to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states."Another explanation of purpose of the program is "to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction in states of the former Soviet Union and beyond". CTR provides funding and expertise for states in the former Soviet Union (including Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan) to decommission nuclear, biological, and chemical weapon stockpiles, as agreed by the Soviet Union under disarmament treaties such as SALT

neg: LGBT rights in Belarus minorities, 10% want to criminalize homosexual relations. The most recent poll by Pew Research Center published in May 2017 suggests that 16% of Belarusian are in favor of same-sex marriage while 81% oppose the idea, which was significantly higher than in Ukraine (9%), Russia (5%) and Moldova (5%). Younger people are more likely than their elders to favor legal gay marriage (22% vs. 14%). While a part of the Soviet Union, Belarus used the laws common for all Soviet republics. As such, homosexuality was considered illegal. Sexual relationships between females have never been illegal in Belarus (though lesbians could be

neg: Orthoceras parts of the former Soviet Union such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania. The genus might include a few related species. "Orthoceras" and related orthoconic nautiloid cephalopods are often confused with the superficially similar "Baculites" and related Cretaceous orthoconic ammonoids. Both are long and tubular in form, and both are common items for sale in rock shops (often under each other's names). Both lineages evidently evolved the tubular form independently of one another, and at different times in earth history. "Orthoceras" lived much earlier (Middle Ordovician) than "Baculites" (Late Cretaceous). The two types of fossils can be distinguished by

neg: Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic MGB). Excluding those sentenced in the 1920s-1930s, over 250,000 Belarusians were deported as kulaks or kulak family members in regions outside the Belarusian Soviet Republic. The scale of Soviet terror in Belarus was higher than in Russia or Ukraine which resulted in a much stronger extent of Russification in the republic. A Polish Autonomous District was founded in 1932 and disbanded in 1935. In September 1939, the Soviet Union, following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany, occupied eastern Poland after the 1939 invasion of Poland. The former Polish territories referred to as West Belarus were incorporated into the Belarusian SSR,

neg: June deportation from 2012. Latvia's "The Chronicles of Melanie" ("Melānijas hronika") was released in 2016 and is, just like "In the Crosswind", based on the memoirs of a woman who experienced the deportation, but is told in a more conventional dramatic way. June deportation The June deportation (, , ) was a mass deportation by the Soviet Union of tens of thousands of people from the territories occupied in 1940–1941: Baltic states, occupied Poland (mostly present-day western Belarus and western Ukraine), and Moldavia. The deportation took place from May 22 to June 20, 1941, just before the invasion of the Soviet Union

neg: Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was Sergo Ordzhonikidze. In December 1922 TSFSR agreed to join the union with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, thus creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would last until 1991. The TSFSR, however, did not last long. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union was finally dismantled when the leaders in the Union Council found themselves unable to come to agreement over several issues. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia then became union Republics of the Soviet Union directly. In the spring of 1921, a general change-over from revkoms and kombeds to Soviets took place. In order to help the Azerbaijani oil industry

neg: Ruble Soviet ruble replaced the ruble of the Russian Empire. The Soviet ruble (code: SUR) was the currency of the Soviet Union since 1917 until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet ruble was issued by the State Bank of the USSR. The Soviet ruble continued to be used in the 15 Post-Soviet states. The Soviet ruble was used until 1992 in Russia (replaced by Russian ruble), Ukraine (replaced by Ukrainian karbovanets), Estonia (replaced by Estonian kroon), Latvia (replaced by Latvian rublis), Lithuania (replaced by Lithuanian talonas), and until 1993 in Belarus (replaced by Belarusian ruble), Georgia (replaced

neg: Poland–Russia border of the People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union, including the Border Agreement between Poland and the USSR of 16 August 1945. While the actual border line remained unchanged following the fall of the Soviet Union, the breakdown of the Soviet Union into a number of post-Soviet states transformed the Poland-Soviet Union border into a Poland-Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Poland-Belarus and Poland-Ukraine border. The Poland–Russia borders were confirmed in a Polish-Russian treaty of 1992 (ratified in 1993). The Poland–Russia border is that between Poland and the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia, which is an exclave, unconnected to the rest of Russia. The

neg: Belarus–Ukraine border the Supreme Soviet of Belarus of 11 June 1993, but there is an international agreement between Belarus and Ukraine, in which they mutually recognize the border BSSR and USSR recognized in 1990. To date, the border is governed by the Agreement between Belarus and Ukraine on friendship, good neighborliness and the cooperation of 17 June 1995, the Treaty on the State Border between Belarus and Ukraine on 12 May 1997 in the same year was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and in 2010 the National Assembly of Belarus, but the parties still have not exchanged instruments of ratification.

neg: Soviet Union national ice hockey team Soviet Union national ice hockey team The Soviet national ice hockey team () was the national ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. The team won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament between 1954 and 1991 and never failed to medal in any International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament they competed in. After 1991, the Soviet team competed as the Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Olympics and as the Commonwealth of Independent States at the 1992 World Championship. In 1993, it was replaced by national teams for Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The IIHF recognized

neg: Soviet Union in World War II Soviet Union in World War II The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on 23 August 1939. In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol that divided territories of Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Finland into German and Soviet "spheres of influence", anticipating potential "territorial and political rearrangements" of these countries. Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler later traded proposals after a Soviet entry into the Axis Pact. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Stalin waited until 17 September before launching his own invasion of Poland. Part of the Karelia

neg: Pole and Hungarian brothers be Ukraine); Polish political and military authorities saw this as an imminent danger to nearby southeastern Poland, with its largely-Ukrainian population. On 17 September 1939, pursuant to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Gestapo–NKVD conferences, the Soviet Union seized eastern and southeastern Poland and made it part of western Ukraine. Hitler was concerned that if a Ukrainian army organized in Carpathian Rus accompanied German forces invading the Soviet Union, Ukrainian nationalists would insist on an independent Ukraine. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Poles demonstrated their support for the Hungarians by donating blood; by 12 November, 11,196 Poles had donated. The Polish

neg: Russian pop The undisputed center of the creation of the Russian-language pop music of that time was the Moscow and, to a lesser extent, St. Petersburg. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia is still a major producer and consumer of Russian-speaking music, demand is still high in some of the new independent states, especially Ukraine and Belarus. For quite significant regional centers contemporary Russian language popular music include, in addition to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev (Ukraine), which is also focused on the Russian-speaking market. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Iron Curtain, the mass

neg: Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus suspects, who were still alive at the time, came in 1949—1952. Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus The Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus was a political and criminal case initiated by the GPU of the Belarusian Soviet Republic against several Belarusian scientists and culture activists. The case formed part of a wave of Soviet repressions in Belarus in 1929 - 1931. The GPU accused the victims of membership in a (presumably non-existent) anti-Soviet organization called the "Union of Liberation of Belarus" (). Most of the accused were killed, or expelled to far regions of the

neg: Mikhail Kalinin after the fall of the Soviet Union. Kalinin Square and Kalinin Street which were named after Kalinin are located in Minsk, Belarus. The Kalinin avenue in Dnipro, Ukraine was renamed into Prospekt Serhiy Nigoyan in January 2015. Mikhail Kalinin Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (; 3 June 1946), known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. He served as head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. From 1926, he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet

neg: Ukraine–European Union relations official page A "Joint EU–Ukraine Action Plan" was endorsed by the European Council on 21 February 2005. It was based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 1994 and provided, according to the European Commission, a comprehensive and ambitious framework for joint work with Ukraine in all key areas of reform. The Eastern Partnership is a forum aiming to improve the political and economic trade-relations of the six Post-Soviet states of "strategic importance" – Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia with the European Union. The EU draft of the EaP states that: "Shared values including democracy, the rule of

neg: Flüchtlingspolitik deported to Germany, mainly as forced laborers, during the Second World War. Freed prisoners of war, Eastern Europeans who came to Germany voluntarily after the start of the war and people who had fled from the Soviet Army were considered within a broad definition of DPs. DPs were supposed, and also mostly wanted, to be repatriated into their country of origin. Citizens of the Soviet Union were however repatriated against their will. Polish and Baltic people, as well as the forced laborers from the areas in Belarus and Ukraine who had lived on Polish national territory before the war, had

neg: Guards unit the Second World War a number of Guards troops were stationed in Eastern Europe, for example, in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Guards designations for military units have been retained by Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. Ukraine retained the Guards designations until 2016. A number of former Soviet republics have national guard branches of their armed forces, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan (2,500 Republican Guards in 1994), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Guards unit Guards units (, , ) are elite units and formations in the armed forces of the former Soviet

neg: Lisbon Protocol to achieve those objects. Although Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan had signed the protocol in May 1992, each state had to ratify and implement the protocol. In Belarus and Ukraine, there was some resistance to giving up nuclear arms. However, on December 5, 1994, all signatories to the Lisbon Protocol exchanged instruments of ratification, and the agreement came into force. At this time, Russia was also able to ratify START I as the successor state to the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan's government was more interested in focusing resources on the country's development rather than on maintenance of a nuclear arsenal. In return

neg: Dissolution of the Soviet Union original members on October 24, 1945, together with the Soviet Union. After declaring independence, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic changed its name to Ukraine on August 24, 1991 and on September 19, 1991, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic informed the UN that it had changed its name to the Republic of Belarus. The other twelve independent states established from the former Soviet Republics were all admitted to the UN: Historiography on Soviet dissolution can be roughly classified in two groups, namely intentionalist accounts and structuralist accounts. Intentionalist accounts contend that Soviet collapse was not inevitable and resulted from the policies

neg: Union of Officers of Moldova Union of Officers of Moldova The Union of Officers of Moldova (, ) or SОRМ is a Moldovan non-governmental organisation based in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau. It serves as an organization that honours Soviet/Moldovan veterans of war, as well as a proponent of Soviet Army culture in the Moldovan National Army. Former Moldovan defense minister Victor Gaiciuc is the chair of the Union of Officers of Moldova, with Major General Gennady Kondratenko acting as co-chair. The history of SORМ goes back to April 1998, when reserve officers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine created the International Union of Soviet Officers,

neg: Belarus–Poland border has never changed. Border rivers (from north to south) are Czarna Hańcza, Wolkuszanka, Swislocz, Narew and Western Bug. Belarus–Poland border The Belarusian-Polish border is the state border between Republic of Poland (EU member) and the Republic of Belarus (Union State) It has a total length of , or (sources vary). It starts from the triple junction of the borders with Lithuania in the north and stretches to the triple junction borders with Ukraine to the south. It is also part of the EU border with Belarus. After Soviet Invasion of Poland in September 1939, the area of West Belarus was

neg: Ice Hockey World Championships to the gold medal. The Soviets won bronze–the last medal the team would ever win. The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. Nine former soviet republics became part of the IIHF and began competing in international competitions, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Ukraine. Russia was named the successor to the Soviet Union. With this flood of new teams, the IIHF expanded the number of spots from eight to twelve. From 1963 to 1991, only four teams won a World Championship medal: the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia (failing to win a medal only three times), Sweden and Canada. The Soviets won a

neg: Belarusian Telegraph Agency Belarusian Telegraph Agency The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA (, , БелТА) is the state-owned national news agency of the Republic of Belarus. It operates in Russian, Belarusian, English, German and Spanish languages. The agency was founded on December 23, 1918. During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), although it was legally independent of it. After the USSR seized to exist in 1991, BelTA has been the national news agency of Belarus. It transmits over a hundred daily reports, and provides information to other news agencies of Commonwealth of Independent States members

neg: Republics of the Soviet Union Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United States. In contrast, the Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate.. Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a federation. In accordance with provisions present in the Constitution (versions adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977), each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, this right was widely considered to be meaningless; however, the corresponding Article 72 of the 1977 Constitution was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus seceded

neg: 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt of Ministers headed by Valentin Pavlov, a GKChP member. Russian prime minister Ivan Silayev headed this committee. On the same day the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine and called for a referendum on support of the Declaration of Independence. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the third most powerful republic in the union, also declared its independence the next day on 25 August which then established the Republic of Belarus. On 5 September, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union adopted Soviet Law No. 2392-1 "On the Authorities of the Soviet Union in the Transitional

neg: Russia and weapons of mass destruction Pacepa, "Khrushchev's nuclear-proliferation process started with Communist China in April 1955, when the new ruler in the Kremlin consented to supply Beijing a sample atomic bomb and to help with its mass production. Subsequently, the Soviet Union built all the essentials of China's new military nuclear industry." Russia is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" (NWS) under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which Russia ratified (as the Soviet Union) in 1968. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of Soviet-era nuclear warheads remained on the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

neg: Border states (Eastern Europe) Poland, Romania, and, until their annexation into the Soviet Union, short-lived Belarus and Ukraine. The policy tended to see the border states as a "cordon sanitaire", or buffer states, separating Western Europe from the newly formed Soviet Union. This policy was very successful. Soviet Union was at the time driven by trotskyist ideology whose goal was the permanent revolution aiming not to cease until spreading communism all over the world. This plan was shattered by Poland which stopped Bolschevik Red Army invasion by successfully winning Polish–Soviet War. After the end of the war Poland's leader Pilsudski, despite an option having

neg: Soviet Armed Forces the victims became proclaimed heroes, the authorities acquitted the tank crew of all charges. Nobody issued orders to shoot at anyone. Following the coup attempt of August 1991, the leadership of the Soviet Union retained practically no authority over the component republics. Nearly every Soviet Republic declared its intention to secede and began passing laws defying the Supreme Soviet. On December 8, 1991, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine declared the Soviet Union dissolved and signed the document setting up the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Gorbachev finally resigned on December 25, 1991, and the following day the Supreme

neg: Rada West Slavic, but not South Slavic, languages. In Swedish the verb "råda" (to counsel) is based on the substantive "råd". This is similar to Danish "råd" (noun) and "råde" (verb). In Belarus In Czech Republic In Poland In Slovakia In Ukraine Historically, the "Verkhovna Rada" was also the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Українська "Радянська" Соціалістична Республіка [УРСР], "Ukrayins'ka "Radyans'ka" Sotsialistychna Respublika [URSR]"), which was itself part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Союз "Радянських" Соціалістичних Республік, [СРСР]), the word "rada" replacing the Russian word "soviet" in both cases. See official names of the Soviet Union.