People of the Revolution and the USSR
- Arnold Rüütel Arnold Rüütel The agronomist who pushed a sovereignty declaration through the Soviet system and led Estonia out of the empire
- Elmira Mikayil qızı Kafarova Elmira Qafarova A Soviet republican leader who asserted institutional authority in crisis
- Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk Леонід Макарович Кравчук The communist propagandist who became Ukraine's first president and signed the Soviet Union out of existence
- Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich Станіслаў Станіслававіч Шушкевіч The nuclear physicist who demanded Chernobyl truth, hosted the meeting that dissolved the USSR, and called Gorbachev to tell him
- Valentyna Semenivna Shevchenko Валентина Семенівна Шевченко Ukrainian SSR head of state during Chernobyl who pushed the evacuation of 526,000 children from Kyiv against Moscow's resistance
- Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev Геннадий Иванович Янаев First and only Vice President of the USSR and the face of the August 1991 coup
- Anatolijs Gorbunovs Anatolijs Gorbunovs The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence
- Ruslan Imranovich Khasbulatov Руслан Имранович Хасбулатов The Supreme Soviet chairman who stood with Yeltsin against the coup, then fell to Yeltsin's tanks