1991 The Russian parliament today voted overwhelmingly in favor
of replacing the Soviet Union with a loose commonwealth of independent states.
Russia immediately withdrew its MPs from the Kremlin in a boycott supported by
Ukrainian and Byelorussian MPs. This left the Soviet parliament without a
Quorum, and it adjourned. Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbchev is left
with his job, but no apparent function. Russia, the Ukraine and Byelorussia reached
agreement on the Commonwealth plan last week, and Russian president Boris
Yektsin, architect of the plan, is due to meet five Muslim Central Asian
leaders this weekend. There are already rifts in the new Commonwealth before it
has been born, with new demands from the Byelorussian opposition, and radical
Ukrainian amendments to the text of the agreement. However, the Soviet Union
has no option left but a transfer of power.
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