1991-by using structural reforms to widen opportunities for leaders and popular movements in the union republics to gain influence, gorbachev inadvertently made it possible for nationalist, orthodox communist, and populist forces to oppose his attempts to liberalize and revitalize soviet communism. although some of the new movements aspired to replace the soviet system altogether with a liberal democratic one, others demanded independence for the national republics. still others insisted on the restoration of the old soviet ways. ultimately, gorbachev could not forge a compromise among these forces. relaxation under glasnost resulted in the communist party losing its absolute grip on the media. before long, and much to the embarrassment of the authorities, the media began to expose severe social and economic problems the soviet government had long denied and actively concealed. problems receiving increased attention included poor housing, alcoholism, drug abuse, pollution, outdated stalin-era factories, and petty to largescale corruption, all of which the official media had ignored. media reports also exposed crimes committed by joseph stalin and the soviet regime, such as the gulags, his treaty with adolf hitler, and the great purges, which had been ignored by the official media. moreover, the ongoing war in afghanistan, and the mishandling of the 1986 chernobyl disaster, which gorbachev tried to cover up, further damaged the credibility of the soviet government at a time when dissatisfaction was increasing. on december 25, 1991, gorbachev resigned as president of the ussr, declaring the office extinct and ceding all the powers still vested in it to the president of russia: yeltsin. by december 31, 1991, all official soviet institutions had ceased operations, as individual republics assumed the central governments role. the final collapse of the ussr was one of the most sudden and dramatic territorial losses that has happened in the history of russia or its successor states in centuries. between 1990 and 1992 the kremlin had lost direct government control over about one-third of the soviet territorypost-soviet states in alphabetical order: 1. armenia, 2. azerbaijan, 3. belarus, 4. estonia,5. georgia, 6. kazakhstan, 7. kyrgyzstan, 8. latvia,9. lithuania, 10. moldova, 11. russia, 12. tajikistan,13. turkmenistan, 14. ukraine, 15. uzbekistan
