The first kinks in the Iron Curtain formed when Soviet supreme leader Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on a strategy of “perestroika,” opening up the Communist Party to multi-candidate elections, and allowing businesses to be privately owned and make their production decisions based on market conditions rather than central planning. Soon after, foreign news streamed into Moscow, along with state-broadcast questionings of party leaders. The outer republics, who were already protesting for independence, raised their voices even higher. The final blow came with Gorbachev allowing free elections in those states.

On this day, December 7, in 1990, following Gorbachev’s advice, the main governing body of the USSR, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Soviet Communist Party, relinquished its authority and allowed satellite republics to elect their own governing bodies.

The elections in the Soviet satellite states led to six of them deciding to break away. They were an eclectic group: in the Baltic region, the USSR lost Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, the latter fielding a full-fledged independence movement in the Sajudis party. In the Caucasus, Armenians were largely concerned about pollution from a Soviet power plant, and Georgians turned out en masse to support the Estonians.