Prof James Ker-Lindsay

On 17 September 1991, the three Baltic Republics – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – joined the United Nations. It marked the end of a long battle for statehood. However, their independence didn’t mark the creation of three new countries. Instead, it amounted to a process of regained independence. All three had in fact previously been sovereign states.

My friend and co author Yuri Maltsev, himself a former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, would disagree that Gorbachev “saw the need for reform,” arguing instead that he was desperately trying to save a failed system, and his hand was forced.