Belavezha Accords

   Sometimes referred to as the Minsk Agreement, the Belavezha Accords were signed by Boris Yeltsin, Stanislau Shushkevich, and Leonid Kravchuk on 8 December 1991 at a state dacha in Belovezhkaya Pushcha in Belarus. Representing the original core of the Soviet Union, that is Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, the three republican presidents effectively abrogated the treaty that bound together the union republics and replaced it with the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 12 December, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ratified the agreement, legally terminating the 1922 treaty that formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The events surrounding the meeting at Belavezha laid the groundwork for the 21 December 1991 Alma-Ata Protocol, the agreement that ultimately completed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

   See also August Coup.