On December 19, 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev, who had initiated the policies of perestroika and glasnost, called Sakharov to tell him that he and his wife may return to Moscow.

Ryzhkov, in retrospect, claimed that the Soviet system had " created, nursed and formed " Gorbachev, but that " long ago Gorbachev had internally rebelled against the native System.

The Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991 when Boris Yeltsin seized power in the aftermath of a failed coup that had attempted to topple reform-minded Gorbachev.

However, although Gorbachev acted as a deputy to the general secretary throughout Andropov's illness, Gorbachev's time had not yet arrived when his patron died early in 1984.

Under Gorbachev, relatively young, reform-oriented technocrats, who had begun their careers in the heyday of " de − Stalinization " under Nikita Khrushchev ( 1958 – 1964 ), rapidly consolidated power within the CPSU, providing new momentum for political and economic liberalization, and the impetus for cultivating warmer relations and trade with the West.

As Gorbachev had weakened the system of internal political repression, the ability of the USSR's central Moscow government to impose its will on the USSR's constituent republics had been largely undermined.

In the late 1980s, the Soviet government came under increased criticism, as did Leninist ideology ( which Gorbachev had attempted to preserve as the foundation for reform ), and members of the Soviet population were more outspoken in their view that the Soviet government had become a failure.

Glasnost did indeed provide freedom of expression, far beyond what Gorbachev had intended, and changed citizens ' views towards the government, which played a key role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

As Gorbachev had weakened the system of internal political repression, the ability of the USSR's central Moscow government to impose its will on the USSR's constituent republics had been largely undermined.

Mikhail Gorbachev had appeared in the Soviet Union with new policies ( glasnost and perestroika ).

This objective became particularly important after 1990, when it was learned that Gorbachev had negotiated an agreement with Chevron, an American oil company, to develop Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil fields.

Nazarbayev, however, continued to support him, persistently urging other republic leaders to sign the revised Union Treaty, which Gorbachev had put forward in a last attempt to hold the Soviet Union together.

Gorbachev immediately launched his new liberalizing policies of glasnost and perestroika, although they had little immediate impact on the political climate in Kyrgyzstan.

On 2 November 1985 Gorbachev replaced Turdakun Usubaliyev the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kirghizia, who had been in power for 24 years, with Absamat Masaliyev.

The papers had the same format: page 1 reported the party Central Committee session on 11 March that elected Gorbachev and printed the new leader's biography and a large photograph of him ; page 2 announced the demise of Chernenko and printed his obituary.

When Gorbachev had Chernenko's safe opened, it was found to contain a small folder of personal papers and several large bundles of money ; large amounts of money was also found in his desk.

Both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev had developed a productive relationship through their summit negotiations.

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union then elected Gorbachev chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, giving Gorbachev the attributes of power that previously Leonid Brezhnev had.

When Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, it signaled a dramatic change in Soviet foreign policy.

* 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.

* 1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

* 1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

* 1985 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declares a moratorium on the deployment of middle-range missiles in Europe.

Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was able to depose Karmal and replace him with Mohammad Najibullah.

The Brezhnev Doctrine stayed in effect until it was finally ended with the Soviet non-invasion of Poland during the 1980-1981 crisis and later refusal of Mikhail Gorbachev to use military force when Poland held free elections in 1989 and Solidarity defeated the Communist Party.

From then on, until the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Central Committee played a minor role in the running of the party and state – the Politburo was the highest political organ in the Soviet Union.

The Communist Party's power over the state formally ended that same year with the newly created Soviet Presidency, whose first and only President was Party General Secretary Gorbachev.

Actual political power lay in the positions of President of the Soviet Union ( held by Gorbachev ) and President of the Russian SFSR ( held by Yeltsin ).

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian adherents to the CPSU tradition, particularly as it existed before Gorbachev, reorganised themselves as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Greater political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, created an atmosphere of open criticism of the communist regime.

His most significant legacy to the Soviet Union was his discovery and promotion of Mikhail Gorbachev.

A major factor in the Soviet Union's collapse was when Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union as it was could not compete economically with the United States.

Following the death of terminally ill Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU ) in March 1985, marking the rise of a new generation of leadership.

Moreover, according to this thesis, a major motivational factor for Gorbachev was his realization that the Soviet Union could not compete economically with the USA However, if economic premises are taken into account, it is not clear why the Soviet leaders did not adopt the Chinese option — economic liberalization with preservation of political system.

By the time Gorbachev ushered in the process that would lead to the dismantling of the Soviet administrative command economy through his programs of glasnost ( political openness ), uskoreniye ( speed-up of economic development ) and perestroika ( political and economic restructuring ) announced in 1986, the Soviet economy suffered from both hidden inflation and pervasive supply shortages aggravated by an increasingly open black market that undermined the official economy.

In January 1987, Gorbachev called for democratization: the infusion of democratic elements such as multi − candidate elections into the Soviet political process.

Reaching consensus between the various members was easier under Leonid Brezhnev's rule than under Mikhail Gorbachev, whose rule was marked by radical reform which threatened the interest of several institutional players within the system.

The elder Kim was unmoved by the social and ecomomic reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev starting in 1985, and this contributed to the decline in relations with Moscow.

Reportedly Mikhail Gorbachev ordered it to proceed under Soviet expense in the interests of international relations, but in the absence of Western underwriting, less expensive experiments were substituted for those in the original plans.

Under Gorbachev, relatively young reform-oriented technocrats rapidly consolidated power, providing new momentum for political and economic liberalization, and the impetus for cultivating warmer relations and trade with the West.

* The Geneva Summit of 1985, where Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan held discussions on international relations and the arms race

Three years later, in 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became President of the USSR, he worked to restore political relations with China ; he reduced the Soviet Army garrisons at the Sino-Soviet border, in Mongolia, and resumed trade, and dropped the 1969 border-demarcation matter.

The coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, and his policies of glasnost and perestroika, as well as a desire for better relations with the West, led to major changes, and most refuseniks were allowed to emigrate.

In marked contrast with the Perestroika and Glasnost policies developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev, Romania adopted Neo-Stalinist principles in both its internal policies and its relations with the outside world.