A region reeling from changes
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(CNN) -- The Sunday afternoon of August 18, 1991, seemed quiet enough for Mikhail Gorbachev. He was at his vacation house along the Crimea, forging a treaty to keep the Soviet Union together, when a knock was heard at the door.
Gorbachev's chief of staff, Valery Boldin, entered and informed the Soviet leader that a special committee had been established. The panel demanded that Gorbachev either declare a state of emergency or relinquish power.
Gorbachev refused both options, and for the next three days a tense standoff played out before the world. Russian President Boris Yeltsin led a growing civil opposition to troops taking orders from coup plotters. (More on the 1991 coup from CNN's Eileen O'Connor.)
By August 21, leaders of the coup dropped their demands, the first Soviet republics declared independence and the path had been set for Gorbachev's resignation and the end of the Soviet Union.
Ten years later, life for many in the former Soviet Union remains in transition.
The ghosts of the former Soviet Union haunt the region. Former republics are still coming to terms with Soviet-era atrocities. (More on jailed ex-Stalin agents.) In Lithuania, a mother grieves over the loss of her daughter during the idealistic days of independence. (More on Lithuanians as they recall the 1991 Soviet crackdown.)
Many Russians and other citizens of the former Soviet Union have left home in an effort to make a better life. (More on living the Russian/American dream.)
In Central Asia, former Soviet republics are becoming an increasingly important area to be reckoned with in the world. (More on Central Asia's growing clout.)
Aspects of culture such as language and fashion are reasserting themselves. (More on a language revival in the former republics.) (More on Russia's changing fashion scene.) Many young Russians, meanwhile, remain at home, forging lives in their country's new economy. (More on today's Russian youth.)