solve it the union collapsed was a sad event and it was a tragedy but when that happened the soviet treasury was empty there was a dislocated economy and there was a real threat of famine more importantly its governance had broken down with unpredictable consequences from a bloody civil war to nuclear weapons landing in the hands of uncontrollable forces but we've managed to prevent all that. december the eighth one thousand nine hundred one so the last chapter in the history of the soviet union with the appearance of the better veggie cream and they confirmed the statehood of the former soviet republics and the emergence of a new political entity the commonwealth of independent states the agreements were signed by two top ranking officials representing each of the republics yeltsin misrepresenting russia. and the communes that document there is a masterpiece of twenty first century diplomacy. empire crammed with nuclear weapons and an enormous backlog of deep seated problems that had piled up over more than seventy years broke up almost peacefully. december the eighth one thousand nine hund