Credit: A.Savin

Red Square ( Russian: Красная площадь, Krásnaya plóshchad’) is a city square in Moscow. During the Soviet era, Red Square maintained its significance, becoming a focal point for the new state. Besides being the official address of the Soviet government, it was renowned as a showcase for military parades.

The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, named after Vladimir Lenin, leader of the October Revolution.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the letters "CCCP" and the Soviet coat of arms on the Moscow Kremlin were replaced by two-headed eagles.

The Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 (replica pictured) was the first artificial satellite to be put into the Earth's orbit, an event that began the Space Race.

The Lunokhod programme ( Lunokhod 1 replica pictured) launched the first remote-controlled rovers that successfully landed on celestial bodies.

Lenin's Mausoleum in 1925.

The gravestone of Joseph Stalin at the Moscow Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Statues of Joseph Stalin often portrayed him as a person very close to Vladimir Lenin.

Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference with Clement Attlee and Harry Truman.

T-80 tanks in the Red Square during the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt.

Vladimir Lenin was the first leader of the Soviet Union.

The KGB was an essential part of the Soviet Union's internal security and intelligence.

Ivan Maisky signs the Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact on 21 January 1932.

Originally a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin became Mikhail Gorbachev's political enemy, and later, the first President of the Russian Federation.

Konstantin Chernenko was the leader of the Soviet Union with the shortest reign of only thirteen months, from February 1984 to March 1985.