Vintage Photos That Capture Life in the USSR during Hard Times in 1990s

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a socialist federation in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Throughout its existence, the USSR was a true powerhouse of some of the most significant technological achievements and innovations of the 20th century. They invented the world’s first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union finally occurred on December 26, 1991. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, changing the world’s geopolitical balance.

The fall left its largest component, Russia, unable to wield anything like the global power that the USSR had for decades. The concluding drama of the Cold War — the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the end of the four-decade-old East-West conflict — unfolded in three acts between 1989 and 1991.

Below are old photos taken in 1990-1991 by photographers George Steinmetz and Peter Turnley who visited the country during the hard times in 1990 and 1991.

Photo credit: Corbis

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Photo credit: Corbis