"from the Georgian Chess Federation. Anatolijs Šmits Anatolijs Šmits, also known as Anatols Šmits (September 2, 1941 – January 30, 1998), was a Latvian chess master. Šmits won the Soviet Junior Championship in 1960 and was Latvian Chess Champion in 1969 and 1975. He also gained second place in Cup of USSR in 1970 (after David Bronstein). Šmits played for Latvia in Soviet team competitions: Šmits was an excellent teacher as exemplified by his coaching for the World Championship match of Nona Gaprindashvili against Nana Alexandria of Georgia at Pitsunda/Tbilisi 1975, which Nona Gaprindashvili won. For this effort, Smits received"
"new position, President of the Soviet Union, which was independent from the CPSU and the soviets (councils) and whose holder could be impeached only in case of direct violation of the law. On 15 March 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive president. At the same time, Article 6 of the constitution was changed to deprive the CPSU of a monopoly on political power. Gorbachev's efforts to streamline the Communist system offered promise, but ultimately proved uncontrollable and resulted in a cascade of events that eventually concluded with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Initially intended as tools to"
"not vote. The day after the election, Gorbachev took office as President at a meeting of the Congress of People's Deputies. 1990 Soviet Union presidential election Presidential elections were held in the Soviet Union on 14 March 1990 to elect a president for a five-year term. This was the only presidential election in the Soviet Union, as the post of president was introduced in 1990, and the Soviet Union disintegrated in the following year. The elections were uncontested, with Mikhail Gorbachev as the only candidate. Although the constitution required the president to be directly-elected, it was decided that the first"
"Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian and formerly Soviet politician. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the governing Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991, serving as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically a socialist, he initially adhered to Marxism-Leninism although following the Soviet"
"was also the leader of the Gang of Eight which attempted the August coup, and declared himself Acting President of the Soviet Union on 19 August 1991. After three days the coup collapsed and Gorbachev was restored. He held the office up to the country's dissolution. President of the Soviet Union The President of the Soviet Union (, ), officially called President of the USSR () or President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), was the head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. Mikhail Gorbachev was the"
"for his role in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic collapse. During his career, Gorbachev attracted the admiration of some colleagues, but others came to hate him. Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian and formerly Soviet politician. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the governing Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991, serving as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989,"
"to reduce party control of the government apparatus. He proposed a new executive in the form of a presidential system, as well as a new legislative element, to be called the Congress of People's Deputies. Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies were held throughout the Soviet Union in March and April 1989. This was the first free election in the Soviet Union since 1917. Gorbachev became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (or head of state) on 25 May 1989. On 15 March 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union with 59% of the"
"in Malta. The Soviet alliance system was by then on the brink of collapse, and the Communist regimes of the Warsaw Pact were losing power. On March 11, 1990 Lithuania, led by newly elected Vytautas Landsbergis, declared independence from the Soviet Union. The gate to the Berlin Wall was opened and Gorbachev approved. Gorbachev proposed to President George H.W. Bush massive troop reductions in Eastern Europe. In the USSR itself, Gorbachev tried to reform the party to destroy resistance to his reforms, but, in doing so, ultimately weakened the bonds that held the state and union together. By February 1990,"
"on 10 November, succeeded by Petar Mladenov. The following month the Communist Party announced it was giving up power and began a series of round table talks with the opposition on the transition to democracy. It was decided that the State Council would have to be abolished and the office of the ""Chairman (President) of the Republic"" would have to be inaugurated. The powers and duties of the office were outlined in Chapter 5 of the 1971 constitution, as amended in 1990. On 3 April 1990 Petar Mladenov, having previously served as the Chairman of the State Council, was elected"
"to boil over, as the Baltic republics chose to secede from the Soviet Union. On March 17, a referendum was held, in which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a renewed federation. In August 1991, a coup d'état attempt by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On December 25, 1991, the USSR was dissolved into 15 post-Soviet states. In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected President in"
"1990 Soviet Union presidential election Presidential elections were held in the Soviet Union on 14 March 1990 to elect a president for a five-year term. This was the only presidential election in the Soviet Union, as the post of president was introduced in 1990, and the Soviet Union disintegrated in the following year. The elections were uncontested, with Mikhail Gorbachev as the only candidate. Although the constitution required the president to be directly-elected, it was decided that the first elections should be held on an indirect basis as it was necessary for a president to be elected immediately and processes"
"speech at the 28th Congress. Gorbachev's visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on January 11–13, 1990, provoked a pro-independence rally attended by an estimated 250,000 people. On March 11, the newly elected parliament of the Lithuanian SSR elected Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of Sąjūdis, as its chairman and proclaimed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, making Lithuania the first Soviet Republic to break away from the USSR. Moscow reacted with an economic blockade keeping the troops in Lithuania ostensibly ""to secure the rights of ethnic Russians"". On March 25, 1990, the Estonian Communist Party voted to"
"the opposition was the repeal of Article 6 of the constitution, which prescribed the supremacy of the CPSU over all the institutions in society. Faced with opposition pressure for the repeal of Article 6 and needing allies against hard-liners in the CPSU, Gorbachev obtained the repeal of Article 6 by the February 1990 Central Committee plenum. Later that month, before the Supreme Soviet, he proposed the creation of a new office of president of the Soviet Union, for himself to be elected by the Congress of People's Deputies rather than the popular elections. Accordingly, in March 1990 Gorbachev was elected"
"in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called ""perestroika"". His policy of ""glasnost"" freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship. Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the Soviet Union abandoned its nine-year war in Afghanistan and began to withdraw its forces. In the late 1980s, , which paved the way for Revolutions of 1989. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall"
"Note: In 1990 the position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was abolished. Instead the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet became head of the republic in addition to serving as a parliamentary speaker. Boris Yeltsin was chairman 1990-1991. In early 1991, the post of President of Russia was created and executive powers were transferred from the Supreme Soviet to the President. The responsibilities of the Supreme Soviet Chairman were limited to those of a parliamentary speaker. Boris Yeltsin won the first presidential election in June 1991 and, upon inauguration, resigned from the office of the Supreme Soviet"
"and rather than being a locus for change became a bulwark of conservatism. Increasingly, Gorbachev bypassed the party in order to implement his reforms relying instead on governmental bodies. In 1989 Gorbachev allowed other political associations (de facto political parties) to coexist with the Communist Party and in 1990 obtained the repeal of Article Six of the USSR constitution which gave the party supremacy over all institutions in society, thus ending its vanguard status. The Communist Party's power over the state formally ended that same year with the newly created post of President of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was elected"
"1990s, the Soviet Union underwent massive political upheavals, culminating in the dissolution of the State. Former republics of the Soviet Union declared their independence during January 1990 – December 1991, resulting in the establishment of several independent countries, along with fifteen republics and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Up until that time, Aeroflot had been the only establishment providing air services throughout the Soviet Union, but with its breakup Aeroflot branches of these countries began their own services, and the airline itself came under control of Russia, the largest of the CIS republics, and was renamed ""AeroflotRussian International Airlines"
"new general secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in 1985, he began implementing his plans to reform the Soviet Union. These were encapsulated in two policies: ""perestroika"" and ""glasnost"". While ""perestroika"" had more to do with economic reform, ""glasnost"" or ""openness"" granted limited freedom to Soviet citizens to express grievances about the Soviet system itself and its leaders. Capitalizing on this new policy of Moscow, the leaders of the Regional Soviet of Karabakh decided to vote in favor of unifying the autonomous region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. The resolution read: On 24 February, Boris"
"1990, prior to independence in December 1991. The outgoing Supreme Soviet dissolved itself on 13 December 1993, five days after having set the election date. The President's People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity was challenged by several newly formed groups, especially the People's Congress of Kazakhstan. After a screening process, 754 candidates were approved to contest the 135 directly-elected seats. There were also 65 candidates for the 42 ""state list"" seats. The campaign lasted two-months and was focussed on the economy; Nazarbayev committed to the free-market system and continuing reforms, particularly in the banking and tax spheres, in order to attract"
"leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] introduced the ""[[perestroika]]"" and ""[[glasnost]]"" reforms. [[History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)|The Soviet Union collapsed]] in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power, though Russia retained much of the massive Soviet nuclear arsenal. In Latin America in the 1970s, leftists acquired a significant political influence which prompted the right-wing, ecclesiastical authorities and a large portion of the individual country's upper class to support coups d'état to avoid what they perceived as a communist threat. This was further fueled by Cuban and United States intervention which led to a political polarization. Most South American countries"
"leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who took office in 1985. In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to go further than a nuclear freeze. In an Atomic Age first, they agreed to reduce nuclear arsenals. Intermediate- and shorter-range nuclear missiles were eliminated. In 1987, American conservative Michael Johns compiled a list of Soviet crimes, echoing Reagan by claiming ""what we face today in Soviet Communism is, indeed, an evil empire"". The Soviet Union, for its part, alleged that the United States was an imperialist superpower seeking to dominate the entire world, and that the Soviet Union was fighting against it in the name"
"Transnistria with a capital at Tiraspol. In 1990, Topal became one of the leaders of the separatist movement in southern Moldova. On 31 October 1990, he was elected president of the Supreme Soviet of the self-proclaimed Gagauz Republic. Although the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Moldova immediately declared these proclamations invalid, elections took place in both separatist republics. On 1 December 1991, Topal was elected president of the Gagauz Republic (90% votes), and from 1991 to 1995 he headed the Supreme Soviet of the Gagauz Republic. That same month, Igor Smirnov was elected president of Transnistria. Topal supported greater"
"one of the prime catalysts for democratic reform. In 1989, Burbulis became acquainted with Boris Yeltsin, who had been elected to the Congress of People’s Deputies with 90 percent of vote. Burbulis nominated him to the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (the Congress’s standing body), which he was elected to on May 29, 1990. Yeltsin appointed Burbulis his authorized representative and deputy chairman of his Higher Consultation and Coordination Council. On June 12, 1990, the Congress of People’s Deputies of the RSFSR passed a law on the sovereignty of Russia within the framework of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin"
"Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) from 22 February to 24 April 1990. On 24 April 1990, Nazarbayev was named the first President of Kazakhstan by the Supreme Soviet. He supported Russian President Boris Yeltsin against the attempted coup in August 1991 by Soviet hardliners. Nazarbayev was close enough to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for Gorbachev to consider him for the post of Vice President of the Soviet Union; however, Nazarbayev turned the offer down. The Soviet Union disintegrated following the failed coup, though Nazarbayev was highly concerned with maintaining the close economic ties between Kazakhstan and Russia."
"After Gorbachev was ousted by Boris Yeltsin, Shakhnazarov became a key figure in the newly established Gorbachev Foundation. His loyalty to Gorbachev was unquestioned, and he was with him at many of the key moments as Soviet leader. He was at his side when Gorbachev failed to convince the East German Politbüro to reform at a strained meeting in East Berlin in October 1989. The two shared a celebratory private glass of champagne when Gorbachev was elected the first (and last) Soviet president in March 1990. Shakhnazarov was staying at a sanatorium close to the presidential dacha at Foros in"
"11 March 1990 that they were restored. The Pinochet government almost instantaneously began attacking Soviet citizens and pursuing an extremely anti-Soviet agenda. The Soviet Union responded strongly by offering aid to persecuted members and supporters of Allende’s previous administration and by denouncing the Chilean government as fascist. President Ricardo Lagos paid a state visit to Russia in October 2002, and President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Chile in November 2004, in conjunction with the APEC summit being held in Santiago, marking the first visit by a Russian head-of-state to South America. Michelle Bachelet paid an official visit to"
"being exaggerated and, perhaps, intentionally politicized. Some described the language laws as ""discriminatory"" and criticized their rapid implementation. Others, on the contrary, complained the laws were not followed. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed; ""Pridnestrovie"" being the name for Transnistria in Russian. On 22 December 1990 president Gorbachev signed a decree that declared void the decisions of the ""Second Congress of People Deputies of Transnistria"" from 2 September. For two months, Moldovan authorities refrained from taking action against this proclamation. Transnistria became one of the ""unrecognized republics"" that appeared throughout the USSR, alongside Abkhazia,"
"Igor Smirnov Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov (, tr. ""Igorʹ Nikolayevich Smirnov""; born 23 October 1941) is a Transnistrian politician, the first president (1991–2011) of the internationally unrecognized Eastern-European country Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic. Igor Smirnov was born in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union during World War II. He was the son of Nikolai Stepanovich Smirnov, a worker within the Soviet Communist Party apparatus and Zinaida Grigor'evna Smirnova, a journalist and newspaper editor. As the Party promoted Nikolai Stepanovich to ever more important positions, the family moved from Petropavlosk to the Ukrainian SSR, where the Red Army had recently expelled the Nazi German"
"1990 October Revolution Parade The 1990 October Revolution Parade was the last parade commemorating the 1917 October Revolution during the Soviet Union's existence. It celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the revolution. It was the first and last parade attended by Mikhail Gorbachev in his position as President of the Soviet Union. At the chimes of the Kremlin Clock, Gorbachev gave an address to the nation. It would be the first and last time a Soviet leader made an address on Lenin's Mausoleum during an October Revolution parade. After the anthem was played, the commander of the parade Colonel General Nikolai"
"1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the ""War of Laws"". In 1989, the Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the USSR's laws. After a landslide victory of Sąjūdis in Lithuania, that country declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990. A referendum"
"Petar Mladenov Petër Tošev Mladenov (; 22 August 1936 – 31 May 2000) was a Bulgarian communist diplomat and politician. He was the last leader of the Bulgarian People's Republic from 1989 to 1990, and briefly the first President of the Republic of Bulgaria in 1990. Mladenov was born to a peasant family in the village of Toshevtsi, Vidin Province on 22 August 1936. His father was an anti-fascist partisan killed in action in 1944. He graduated from a military school, entered Sofia State University, and graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1963. Soon afterward, he"
"President of the Soviet Union The President of the Soviet Union (, ), officially called President of the USSR () or President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), was the head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. Mikhail Gorbachev was the only person to occupy the office. Gorbachev was also General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between March 1985 and August 1991. He derived an increasingly greater share of his power from his position as president until he finally resigned as General Secretary"
"in order to maintain the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. This raised hopes that Gorbachev would extend his non-interventionist doctrine to the internal workings of the USSR. 1990 began with nationalist turmoil in January. Azerbaijanis rioted and troops were sent in to restore order; many Moldovans demonstrated in favour of unification with post-Communist Romania; and Lithuanian demonstrations continued. The same month, in a hugely significant move, Armenia asserted its right to veto laws coming from the All-Union level, thus intensifying the ""war of laws"" between the republics and Moscow. Soon after, the CPSU, which had already lost much of its"