On Dec. 25, 1991, the once seemingly invincible Union of Soviet Socialist Republics fell when Mikhail Gorbachev, then-secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, transferred his presidential powers to Boris Yeltsin, the leader of the new Russian Federation. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Russia were on…
