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It's 30 years since the failed coup to oust Soviet leader Gorbachev

The world held its breath 30 years ago when a group of senior Communist officials attempted to oust Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and flooded Moscow with tanks. The August coup collapsed after just three days and precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union.

People

Ukraine’s Soviet mosaics are more than just old propaganda

Soviet mosaics in Ukraine were neglected after the end of the USSR. Now artists and locals are trying to restore this important piece of Ukraine’s art history.

Czech Republic

Czech town Milovice marks 30 years since withdrawal of Soviet troops

The former Soviet military base has marked the moment with a parade of floats reconstructing this important moment in its history.

Slovakia

Slovakia: Parliament backs pension cuts for former communist officials

Slovakia just passed a new law that will reduce the high pensions received by Soviet-era apparatchiks.

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Destinations

Car culture in Cuba: The locals with a love for Ladas

The Russian-made Lada is a prize possession in Cuba. Here’s why.

Russia

Mikhail Gorbachev, last Soviet leader, turns 90 in quarantine

Gorbachev, who is widely credited with ending the Cold War, was very popular in the West, but a much more polarising figure within Russia.

Lithuania

Lithuania marks 30 years of deadly Soviet assault over independence

More than a dozen people lost their lives on January 13, 1991 when Soviet troops and tanks drove through crowds gathered in front of the television tower in Vilnius — seen as a symbol of independence.

Russia

George Blake, notorious Soviet Cold War double agent, dies at 98

Blake was jailed in the 1960s for betraying the British foreign intelligence service but escaped and spent the rest of his life behind the Iron Curtain.

Russia

Volunteers build path to site of cosmonaut landing in Russian forest

The trail, deep in the remote Perm region of Russia, will take visitors to the site where 55 years ago two cosmonauts crash-landed after their spacecraft malfunctioned.

World News

Russia 'rewriting history' to justify occupation of Baltic states

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the United States have accused Russia of seeking to “rewrite history” to justify the annexation of the Baltic states in 1940.

Russia

Sergei Khrushchev, son of Soviet leader, dead at 84

Khrushchev once said he hoped his father would have supported his becoming a U.S. citizen. “After all, it’s not as if I’m defecting," he said.

Romania

Gaffe as tribute to Romania's war dead conducted at Russian memorial

They had meant to honour Romania's war dead but the ceremony was instead directed towards fallen soldiers of the Red Army.

Uzbekistan

UN hails Uzbekistan’s move to end statelessness for 50,000 people

Hundreds of thousands of people were left without citizenship across Central Asia following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Germany

Volunteers search for missing soldiers 75 years after Second World War

Volunteers work to dig up bodies in Klessin, Germany to bring closure to families whose loved ones have only ever been a statistic.

Latvia

Latvia marks 30 years since declaring independence from Soviet Union

To mark the occasion, Euronews spoke to a key architect of the split from Moscow, ex-prime minister of Latvia, Valdis Birkavs.

Russia

Euroviews. Already vulnerable, LGBTIQ people are being used as a pawn in Putin’s latest power play ǀ View

Vladimir Putin has vowed that same-sex marriage will not become a reality as long as he is president, and swiftly included a corresponding provision in proposed constitutional changes due to be voted on in a second reading by the State Duma this week, which will be put to a referendum next month.

Europe News

Scratching music onto X-rays like bootleggers in Soviet Russia

A couple of music enthusiasts have been reviving a technique for scratching music onto X-rays. It was a method used in the Soviet Union to listen to music like jazz and rock and roll which was banned by the government.

Ukraine

Holodomor explained: The famine that killed millions in Soviet Ukraine

A famine killed millions in Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. Today, Ukrainians remember its victims.

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Germany marks 30th anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall

Germany on Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall, a pivotal moment in the events that brought down Communism in eastern Europe.

Germany

What was the Berlin Wall? | Euronews answers

An idiot's guide to exactly what went down 30 years ago - and why it matters.