MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, PRESIDENT OF THE SOVIET UNION (through translator): I terminate my activities as president of the USSR.</s>EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The day that Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, it was a really sad day for him. Here was the man who was the architect of Perestroika, here was the man who really was the person who pushed the reforms at a time even when there was a lot of opposition against him within the country, within the upper circles -- it was really difficult. You could see that Mikhail Gorbachev was really hurt by the fact that he felt he had done so much for his country in trying to bring about more democracy, and yet here they were, the people, kicking him out of office.</s>GORBACHEV (through translator): I used to vote for sovereignty and the independence of the republics. At the same time, I was for preserving the union state and integrity of the country.</s>TOM JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CNN: While there was great pressure on him to step aside, that ultimately he felt that it was right, the right moment in history for a change to occur. And Gorbachev's resignation was significant because it changed the entire face of both Russia and the former Soviet Union, and it represented a dramatic change in the kind of global relationships which Russia had with the rest of the world.
CNN 20: Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns, December 25, 1991