| Joseph Stalin |
a Soviet Communist leader and premier of the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1953 (b.1879--d.1953). |
| Kazakhstan |
a Central Asian country south of Russia; formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. |
| KGB |
abbreviation of "Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopastnosti" (Russian); Committee of State Security; formerly, the security and intelligence organization of the Soviet Union. |
| kopeck |
the smaller monetary unit of Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union. (Cf. ruble.) |
| Kyrgyzstan |
a Central Asian country bordered by China and Kazakhstan; formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. |
| Latvia |
a country of East Europe bordered by the Baltic Sea, Russia, Estonia, and Lithuania; formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. |
| Lithuania |
a country of East Europe bordered by the Baltic Sea, Poland, Belarus, and Latvia; formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. |
| MIG |
any of several Soviet-made fighter planes named for the designers, Mikoyan and Gurevich. |
| Mikhail Gorbachev |
a statesman and leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, during which time his foreign policy and domestic reforms contributed to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Communist U.S.S.R. (b.1931). |
| Moldova |
a country of East Europe bordered by Romania and Ukraine; formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. |
| Nikita Khrushchev |
Soviet statesman and premier of the U.S.S.R. from 1958 to 1964, who denounced his predecessor, Joseph Stalin (b.1894--d.1971). |
| nonaligned |
of a nation, not allied with either the United States or the former Soviet Union. |
| oblast |
an administrative region of Russia, or of the former Soviet Union, or of some of its former republics. |
| politburo |
(cap.) the chief executive committee of the Communist party in the former Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and some other countries. [1/2 definitions] |
| presidium |
(cap.) in the Soviet Union, the executive committee of the Communist party from 1952 to 1966. [1/2 definitions] |
| refusenik |
a citizen of the former Soviet Union who was denied permission to emigrate. |
| Ronald Reagan |
the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989) and 33rd Governor of California (1967-1975), who had an earlier career as a film actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild. President Reagan worked to end the Cold War and to improve U.S. relations with the Soviet Union; born Ronald Wilson Reagan (b.1911--d.2004). |
| ruble |
the chief monetary unit of Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, equaling one hundred kopecks. |
| Russia |
a European and Asian country extending from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean; formerly the largest republic of the Soviet Union. |
| Russian |
a member of the dominant people of the former Soviet Union. [2/4 definitions] |
| Russian Federation |
a European and Asian country extending from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, formerly the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic; Russia. |