# 1989 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1989 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

## Incumbents

* President of the Soviet Union — Mikhail Gorbachev
* General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union — Mikhail Gorbachev
* Chairman of the Supreme Soviet — Mikhail Gorbachev
* Vice President of the Soviet Union — Anatoly Lukyanov
* Premier of the Soviet Union — Nikolai Ryzhkov

## Events

Whole Year: Revolutions of 1989
* January to February 15 — Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
* 6 February — Negotiations between the Polish government and the union ‘Solidarity’ opened.
* March 27 — 1989 Soviet Union legislative election: first contested elections in Soviet History.
* April 9 — April 9 tragedy; a pro-independence demonstration in Tbilisi was put down by Soviet authorities, resulting in the deaths of 21 people.
* May 18 — Lithuania declares sovereignty over all of its territory.
* May 25 — Gorbachev becomes Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
* August 23 — Two million people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania join hands to form the Baltic Way in the Singing Revolution.
* September 24 — Lithuania declares 1940 annexation by the Soviet Union to be null and void.
* November 9 — Soviet power in Eastern Europe collapses with the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
* November 28 — Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces the end of its monopoly of power, in the Velvet Revolution.
* December 7 — The Lithuanian parliament announces the end of the political monopoly of the Communist Party of Lithuania, in the Singing Revolution.
* December 25 — Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife and captured and executed, in the Romanian revolution.

## Births

* January 14 — Inna Afinogenova, journalist
* January 23 — Arzu Aliyeva, Azerbaijani public figure who is the younger daughter of Ilham Aliyev
* January 31 — Rafael Akhmetov, Russian ice hockey player
* February 12 — Rauf Aliyev, Azerbaijani international footballer
* February 14 — Bobirjon Akbarov, Uzbekistani footballer
* February 17 — Azat Bayryev, football player
* February 28 — Tigean Avinyan, 60th Mayor of Yerevan
* April 6 — Ulugbek Alimov, Uzbekistani weightlifter
* May 13 — Roman Amirkhanov, Russian professional footballer
* May 26 — Tulabek Akramov, Uzbekistani sports administrator
* July 3 — Ilya Antonovsky, Russian professional ice hockey defenceman
* July 4 — Vyacheslav Andryushchenko, Belarusian ice hockey player
* June 12 — Kirill Akilov, Russian football player
* July 13 — Shamil Alimagomayev, Russian football midfielder
* July 18 — Semyon Antonov, Russian professional basketball player
* July 19 — Sergei Andronov, Russian professional ice hockey player
* July 21 — Sana Anarkulova, Kazakhstani volleyball player
* September 1 — Rahid Amirguliyev, Azerbaijani footballer
* September 5 — Kachorovska Alina, Ukrainian designer of shoes and accessories
* September 21 — Astemir Apanasov, Circassian singer
* October 1 — Stanislav Aseyev, Ukrainian writer and journalist
* October 9 — Georgy Alburov, Russian political and social activist, journalist and blogger
* October 17 — Vyacheslav Akimov, Ukrainian football midfielder
* October 21 — Oleg Akkuratov, Russian pianist, jazz improviser and singer
* October 28 — Alan Alborov, Russian professional football player
* November 5 — Zhannat Aitenova, Kazakhstani handball player
* November 14 — Hasan Aliyev, Azerbaijani World and European champion Greco-Roman wrestler
* November 29 — Natalya Asanova, Uzbekistani athlete
* December 3 — Vladislavs Agurjanovs, Latvian professional table tennis player

## Deaths
### January

* January 3 — Sergei Sobolev, mathematician (b. 1908)
* January 10 — Valentin Glushko, engineer, program manager of the Soviet space program (b. 1908)
* January 24 — Sasha Putrya, Ukrainian artist (b. 1977)
* January 27 — Vasily Konovalenko, artist (b. 1929)

### February

* February 2 — Yuri Bogatyryov, actor (b. 1947)
* February 7 — Simon Virsaladze, ballet, film and opera designer (b. 1909)
* February 20 — Aleksandr Medvedkin, film director (b. 1900)
* February 21 — Otar Taktakishvili, Georgian composer and conductor (b. 1924)

### March

* March 3 — Vytautas Viciulis, Lithuanian painter (b. 1951)
* March 4 — Victor Nikiforov, ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1931)
* March 8 — Elisaveta Bykova, chess player and dual Women's World Chess Champion (b. 1913)
* March 26 — Maris Liepa, Latvian ballet dancer (b. 1936)
* March 29 — Aleksandr Prokopenko, football player (b. 1953)

### April

* April 10 — Nikolai Grinko, actor (b. 1920)
* April 20 — Johan Eichfeld, biologist and politician (b. 1893)
* April 22 — Dmitry Selivanov, rock singer (b. 1964)

### May

* May 2 — Veniamin Kaverin, writer and dramatist (b. 1902)
* May 4 — Lydia Pasternak Slater, research chemist and poet (b. 1902)
* May 8 — Hendrik Allik, Estonian politician (b. 1901)
* May 14 — Nikifor Kalchenko, politician (b. 1906)
* May 23 — Georgy Tovstonogov, theatre director (b. 1915)
* May 27 — Arseny Tarkovsky, poet and translator (b. 1907)

### June

* June 9
** Rashid Behbudov, singer and actor (b. 1915)
** Vladimir Kasatonov, military leader and fleet admiral (b. 1910)
** Piotr Vasiliev, realist painter (b. 1909)
* June 10 — Suleyman Rustam, poet, playwright and translator (b. 1906)
* June 13 — Eduard Päll, politician, linguist and writer (b. 1903)
* June 19
** Betti Alver, Estonian poet (b. 1906)
** Yevgeny Kabanov, Naval Aviation major general (b. 1918)
** Andrey Prokofyev, sprinter and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1959)
* June 21 — Aleksandr Safronov, speed skater and Olympian (b. 1952)
* June 22 — Glenn Michael Souther, American sailor who turned Soviet intelligence officer (b. 1957)
* June 30 — Rostislav Plyatt, stage and film actor (b. 1908)

### July

* July 1 — Victor Nekipelov, poet and writer (b. 1928)
* July 2 — Andrei Gromyko, politician and diplomat, 9th Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (b. 1909)
* July 4 — Leyla Mammadbeyova, first Azerbaijani female aviator (b. 1909)

### August

* August 25 — Yan Frankel, composer and performer (b. 1920)

### September

* September 7 — Valery Goborov, basketball player and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1966)

### October

* October 13 — Merab Kostava, Georgian dissident, musician and poet (b. 1939)
* October 14 — Klavdiya Mayuchaya, javelin thrower and European champion (b. 1918)
* October 15 — Tadevos Hakobyan, Armenian historian and geographer (b. 1917)
* October 17 — Mark Krein, mathematician (b. 1907)
* October 28 — Yuliya Solntseva, actress and film director (b. 1901)

### November

* November 1 — Nurtas Undasynov, 3rd Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (b. 1904)
* November 7 — Andrey Borovykh, World War II flying ace and twice Hero of the Soviet Union (b. 1921)
* November 14 — Samand Siabandov, writer, soldier and politician (b. 1909)
* November 22 — Shamil Serikov, wrestler and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1956)
* November 28 — Georgy Ilivitsky, chess master (b. 1921)
* November 29 — Natan Eidelman, author and historian (b. 1930)

### December

* December 1 — Nikolai Patolichev, 11th Minister of Foreign Trade of the Soviet Union (b. 1908)
* December 3 — Alexander Obukhov, physicist and applied mathematician (b. 1918)
* December 5 — Sofiya Kalistratova, lawyer and human rights activist (b. 1907)
* December 7 — Vadim Spiridonov, film actor and director (b. 1944)
* December 8 — Mykola Livytskyi, Ukrainian politician, prime minister and president of the Ukrainian People's Republic in-exile (b. 1907)
* December 14
** Ants Eskola, actor (b. 1908)
** Andrei Sakharov, nuclear physicist, dissident, human rights activist and Nobel laureate in Physics, dilated cardiomyopathy (b. 1921)
* December 19 — Kirill Mazurov, 14th First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (b. 1914)
* December 28 — Pavel Kurochkin, army general (b. 1900)