On This Day - What happened 25 December 1991 AD

In a nationally televised speech early in the morning of December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR.

Gorbachev resigns from the office.

The President of the United States George H.W. Bush held a brief televised speech officially recognizing the independence of the 11 remaining republics.

On the night of December 25, at 7:32 p.m. Moscow time, after Gorbachev left the Kremlin, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place at 11:40 pm, symbolically marking the end of the Soviet Union.