Remaking the State: Meiji Japan 1600–1912 and Post-Soviet Russia 1964–2000 · THE MAP IN DEC 1991

Map of Russia and the former Soviet Union in December 1991

The Soviet Union dissolved

Russia and the former Soviet Union in December 1991: The Soviet Union dissolved. Since October 1990, 16 territories changed status on this map: including Ukraine, Belarus (Byelorussia), Moldova (Moldavia) and 13 more.

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Map of Russia and the former Soviet Union in December 1991: The Soviet Union dissolved. Colours show Independent neighbours, Western powers and allies, War, rebellion, breakaway. — DEC 1991 · REMAKING THE STATE: MEIJI JAPAN 1600–1912 AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA 1964–2000

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Atlas chapter bibliography and event-specific source record · Natural Earth v5.1.2 complete geographic reference · Natural Earth full administrative reference units · Natural Earth v5.1.2 disputed-area references · International Crisis Group: former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast geographic data · Cliopatria v0.2.1 historical polities · Decolonization of Asia and Africa, 1945–1960 · Natural Earth v5.1.2 country geography

Source details

Maps of History, citing the scholarly bibliography in SOURCES.md. Historical factual reference; no copyrighted prose reproduced
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
International Crisis Group. GPL-3.0 · Only features explicitly labelled former NKAO are dissolved, irrespective of later control category. Later adjacent territories and Lachin corridor are excluded. Derivative data provided separately under GPL3.
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0 · Selected dated records; documented component selection, unions and shared-edge extraction.
US Department of State, Office of the Historian. US government publication
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain · Full source components and holes retained; documented historical unions and repairs.

The constituent Soviet republics use full successor-unit geographic references, with Crimea in Ukraine and the later Baikonur lease hole filled. Conflict hatches locate named territories and are excluded from sovereign-area accounting; source-date gaps are explicit.

proxy: Natural Earth administrative vintage · proxy: Natural Earth geographic reference · proxy: Natural Earth v5.1.2 · proxy: Natural Earth v5.1.2 contemporary reference · proxy: Natural Earth5.1.2 administrative region reference · reconstruction: 1945–1991 · reconstruction: 1991–2000 · reconstruction: Chapter route completion/event date · reconstruction: Former1923–1991NKAO perimeter, retrospectively mapped · vector: 1953–2023 · vector: 1969–1975 · vector: 1987–2005 · vector: 1987–2023

Layer records and reconstruction methods

What changes on the map

Ukraine	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Belarus (Byelorussia)	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Moldova (Moldavia)	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Estonia	War, rebellion, breakaway → Independent neighbours
Latvia	War, rebellion, breakaway → Independent neighbours
Lithuania	War, rebellion, breakaway → Independent neighbours
Georgia	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Armenia	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Azerbaijan	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Kazakhstan	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Uzbekistan	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Turkmenistan	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Kyrgyzstan (Kirghizia)	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Tajikistan	The USSR, then Russia → Independent neighbours
Yugoslavia (Croatia; independent from 1991)	Non-aligned or stateless → War, rebellion, breakaway
Yugoslavia (Slovenia; independent from 1991)	Non-aligned or stateless → Independent neighbours

On the ground

Inside Russia, Chechnya, shown hatched, declared independence in 1991 and fought two wars with Moscow. Tatarstan and Sakha, shown with dashed borders, claimed sovereignty and negotiated instead.
South Ossetia has been outside Tbilisi’s control since the war of 1991–92.

The chapters of this moment

CH 9 — Collapse of the Soviet Union

Related maps

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