The “Non-Deep” Causes of the Disintegration of the Soviet Union

... Asian republics was not joy but bewilderment and even disappointment. Support for the retention of the Union was also highest in Central Asia among all the republics, with 95 per cent in favor of keeping the union in the referendum of March 1991. The decisive forces in the collapse of the Soviet Union were Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. These three Slavic nations formed the bulk of the Soviet Union in terms of politics, economy, military forces, land, and population. Of the three, Ukraine was seen as ...