Top Historic Moments on Instagram: "On the 25th of December 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union in a televised address from the Kremlin. He acknowledged the USSR's dissolution after 69 years, following the August coup and republics' independence declarations. Gorbachev transferred nuclear codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, formalizing the transition. The Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin, replaced by the Russian tricolor. Eleven republics formed the Co