Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.

The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight KAL-007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.

Soviet war in Afghanistan: The United Nations General Assembly passes United Nations Resolution 37/37, stating that Soviet Union forces should withdraw from Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Garry Kasparov 22, of the Soviet Union becomes the youngest World Chess Champion by beating Anatoly Karpov, also of the Soviet Union.

Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years.

A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.

United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.

The Soviet passenger liner Ship sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier ''Pyotr Vasev'', killing 423.

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from internal exile in Gorky.

19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and will not be released until August 3, 1988.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.

In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle ''Buran'' is launched on her first and last space flight.

Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.

Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.

The European Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation.

The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.

The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.

Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.

Soviet Union military troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius. Killed 14 people and wounding 1000.

In two concurring referendums: 74% of the population of Latvia votes for independence from the Soviet Union, in Estonia

Collapse of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of her pre-World War II statehood.

Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.

Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.

Belarus declares its independence from the Soviet Union

Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Tajikstan gains independence from the Soviet Union.

Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union.

Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.