The USSR, one of the largest political and military forces that dominated the world after the Second World War was dissolved 26 years ago. 

On that day, Soviet Union's last president, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned and abolished this office. In the evening the same day, the USSR flag was lowered from Kremlin and replaced with Russian tricolor.

The Soviet Union ended in the spring of 1990. Then Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia proclaimed their independence.

Mikhail Gorbachev publicly condemned the actions of the three countries. On December 8, 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus met to agree that the Soviet Union would be dissolved and replaced by a new structure - the Commonwealth of Independent States.