Saint Petersburg Compromise (New Union)

The Dissolution of the Russian Federation commonly refers to the political and nationalist situation gripping the within the, which lead to autonomous republics within the federation gaining full republican status within the Soviet Union. Many in the Soviet Union consider this to be one of the highlights of the, while others believe that it is one of the world things to happen to the Russians since World War II.

The dissolution was considered a peaceful solution to the many ethnic troubles that gripped Russia since the beginning of glasnost and perestroika.

Background
During its history, the (and even earlier as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) has been made up of many different ethnic groups and cultures. Many of these groups have friendly relations with the Russians, while other have very negative or hateful of the Russians of historical events.

To help control these many ethnic groups in the primarily Russian lands, the Soviet Union instated a series of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs), which allowed these different groups to have autonomy within Russia, but were not as equal as the full Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs). Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, several of these ASSRs (such as the Kazakh ASSR and the Moldavian ASSR) were bumped up to full republican status. In one example, the recently annexed regions from Finland in the 1940s were merged to form the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (now ), but was later downgraded back to an ASSRs.

During the later periods of glasnost and perestroika, many ethnic troubles came back out through the cracks of the breaking communist regime. While leading to the signing of the in 1991 and leading to more sovereignty for the Union Republics, it would also lead to many of the autonomous republics to also declare sovereignty. The most notable was the Chechen–Ingush ASSR, which promoted and declared itself to be its own republic of the Soviet Union. Though the movement would turn into some violence, the USSR was more into reforming rather than adding new republics during the early 1990s. But in December 1994, the Chechens and Ingush would gain their wish and be reformed into the. Around the same time, the Karakalpak ASSR in Uzbekistan was also on the move to become fully sovereign, which it would finally gain in 1996 as the.

Leading to the dissolution
After winning the 1995 Presidential election, declared his administration to assist in the Soviet economy and solve the autonomy troubles. By this time, almost all the autonomous republics of the USSR had declared their sovereignty, but the United Assembly in Moscow denied them as true republics. Many of the republics were primarily Russian, while others had very little population. Still, they wished to run for themselves within the Soviet Union. The mental feel for the Yeltsin administration was that there was nothing wrong with allowing these autonomous republics full status, as long as they were not seeking to leave the union. According to him, "the more the merrier." Beginning in 1996 and 1997, Yeltsin and the leaders of the Russian Federation met in the Russian capital of Leningrad.

On March 15, 1997, Russia and all the autonomous republics signed the Treaty of Leningrad, which declared that all the autonomous republics (excluding Khakassia, Altai, Adygea, and Karachay-Cherkessia; because these four only became republics recently) would be granted full republican status. Many called this the "Second New Union Treaty", as it granted more sovereignty for more republics.

Nine new republics
On January 1, 1998, the Soviet Union gained nine new republics:



Six of the autonomous republics of the Russian Federation agree not to become separate entities, but rather unite to form the.