Strange article, it does not even mention that parts of the USSR were countries occupied before WW II and that they were never happy about it. Perestroika and glasnost gave some room to breathe for their independence movements which gained strength in in late 1980ies. I am still amazed how we were able to pull <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Baltic_Way" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Baltic_Way</a> off.
My country (Lithuania) declared independance back in March 1990, Latvia did the same in May, and Estonia was well on its way—that&#x27;s more than a year befor August 1991 happen. And by the August events we already had January 1991 so I highly highly doubt there was a real chance for USSR to survive and continue business as usual.