Referring Clues

• Once-mighty initials
• 1980 Olympics host
• 90-Down's land
• Soyuz launcher
• Pre-1991 atlas abbr.
• One of the Allies of W.W. II
• Former G.D.R. ally
• Red letters?
• Stalin's domain
• It broke up in Dec. 1991
• Atlas abbr. before 1991
• Former world power, for short
• The Beatles' "Back in the ___"
• Cold war inits.
• Brezhnev's land
• Subj. of a 1991 breakup
• Russia was part of it: Abbr.
• Cold war initials
• Warsaw Pact land
• Boycotter of the '84 L.A. Olympics
• Khrushchev's concern
• SALT signatory
• Cold war foe
• Former "evil empire"
• Former empire
• "Back in the ___"
• Moscow's land, once: Abbr.
• Country founded in 1922: Abbr.
• Where Kalinin was pres.
• W.W. II ally
• Locale in a Beatles song
• Five-Year Plan nation
• SALT party
• Gorbachev was its last leader: Abbr.
• 15-Down rival, once
• Lenin's land, for short
• "Red" letters
• U.N. member through 1991
• Superpower initials until 1991
• Former empire inits.
• Brezhnev's land, in brief
• SALT I signer
• U.S. ally in W.W. II
• Cold war superpower
• Yalta conf. locale
• Five-Year Plan implementer, for short
• "Evil empire" of the '80s
• Stalingrad's land, for short
• Reagan's "evil empire"
• Cold war power: Abbr.
• Cold war foe, for short
• Mir launcher
• See 4-Down
• 56-Across's cold war foe
• UN member until 1991
• Cold War rival of the USA
• "Back in the ___" (Beatles song)
• Pre-1991 world power
• World power until '91
• Pre-1991 superpower
• Nation in Dec. 1991 news
• Superpower until 1991
• "Back in the ___" (Beatles tune)
• It became the CIS
• Ray Stevens' "Surfin' ___"
• Gorbachev's country (abbr.)
• Country in a 1969 Beatles song title
• Letters on an old map of Asia
• Khrushchev's land (abbr.)
• Old map letters
• Nation that dissolved in 1991
• Reagan's "Evil Empire" (abbr.)
• Gorbachev's nation
• Bloc that dissolved in 1991
• USA rival in the Cold War
• SALT signer
• The KGB's country
• Five-Year Plan empire
• Cold War bloc
• It broke up in Dec. of '91
• Former Red giant
• The Olympics' 1980 host and 1984 boycotter
• 1984 Summer Games boycotter
• Country in a Beatle song
• Country featured in a Beatles song
• "Back in the ___" (Beatles hit)
• Moscow was its cap.
• Cosigner of the ABM Treaty
• One-time Red giant
• Russia was part of it (abbr.)
• Old UN member
• Its parts included an Arm. and a Lat.
• Warsaw Pact country
• Empire until 1991: Abbr.
• CCCP, in English
• Former part of 11-Down: Abbr.
• Cold War empire: Abbr.
• Cold War power
• Former Olympics powerhouse
• 1984 Summer Olympics boycotter
• Sputnik launcher
• Former U.N. power
• Space race participant
• KGB funder
• Old atlas abbr.
• Focus of a big breakup in '91
• "Miracle on Ice" losing team
• Cold War letters
• Old atlas initials
• CIS predecessor
• KGB country
• Amer. WWII ally
• 20th-cen. superpower
• Warsaw Treaty Org. member
• WWII U.S. ally
• U.S. ally in WWII
• Outdated globe letters
• SALT talks participant
• Cold War rival: Abbr.
• 1980 Summer Olympics host
• Old polit. letters
• Cold War adversary
• Khrushchev's country: Abbr.
• Former Security Council member
• Cold War principal
• 20th-c. nation
• WWII ally
• Ex-UN member
• Former UN member
• Erstwhile power
• SALT superpower
• Lenin's land
• Moscow's former country: Abbr.
• Warsaw Pact nation
• Onetime UN power
• Pre-1992 map abbr.
• George Kennan specialty
• Russia was part of it
• Superpower that dissolved in the 1990s
• CIS forerunner
• Cold War participant
• Warsaw Pact country (Abbr.)
• "Miracle on Ice" opponent
• Former GDR ally
• Warsaw Pact member (Abbr.)
• Former communist country, briefly
• "Back in the ___"
• '84 Olympics boycotter
• Former world power, briefly
• SALT participant
• One-time superpower
• Former Olympic team
• WWII power
• Gorby's former domain
• Russia, once
• Former world power
• Cold war side
• 1984 Olympics no-show
• 1980 Winter Olympics host
• Letters on an old map
• Notable break-up of 1991
• Soyuz 1 launcher
• Where "the Ukraine girls really knock me out"
• START I treaty party
• Russia, before 1991
• KGB locale
• Extinct red giant
• Red giant now in pieces?
• Cold War country
• It died in 1991
• Khrushchev's home
• Country founded in 1922
• Country dissolved Dec. 8, 1991
• Letters on an old Asian map
• See 1-Across
• Bygone atlas listing
• Red giant now broken up
• KGB whereabouts
• HUAC concern
• Former UN Security Council member
• Russia, of yesterday
• Gorby's domain
• Atlas abbr. until 1991
• J.F.K. adversary
• Nikita's realm, once
• It disappeared on Dec. 26, 1991
• State in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
• Cold War foe, briefly
• KGB creator
• Cold-war adversary
• Red letters
• Locale in a 1968 Beatles song
• US%C2%92 cold-war adversary
• Khrushchev's country
• Pres. Reagan's "evil empire"
• Former Eurasian superpower
• Cold War adversary: Abbr.
• Gp. dissolved 12/26/1991
• Former communist state
• Country in a Beatles song
• Ex-superpower letters
• Former communist country
• Political org. until 1991
• Sputnik launcher (Abbr.)
• BOAC destination, in song
• Erstwhile empire, in brief
• Country that disappeared in '91
• US’ cold-war adversary
• U.N. member until 1991
• Country in a Beatles title
• Beatles' "Back in the ---"
• Pre-1991 power
• Brezhnev's initials?
• "The Kremlin Letter" state
• Whence Drago from "Rocky IV"
• Zangief's country in "Street Fighter II"
• World power until 1991
• Country with a hammer-and-sickle flag, for short
• Fed. dissolved by the Belavezha Accords
• Fallen Russian govt.
• Old Eurasian letters
• Amer. ally in W.W. II
• "Back in the ___" (Beatles)
• Red giant, once?
• 1984 Olympics boycotter
• "Evil empire" initials
• Treaty signer with Ger. in 1939
• Old NATO worry
• Gorby's realm
• Old NATO worry
• 1-Down's land
• Notable breakup of 1991
• Abbr. in old atlases
• Glasnost initials
• Glasnost initials
• Glasnot initials
• Cold War country (Abbr.)
• Cold War abbr.
• Old map abbr.
• KGB's home
• Cold War-era map abbr.
• Abbr. on old maps
• Cold War nation (Abbr.)
• Cold War faction (Abbr.)
• Abbr. on old Eurasian maps
• Abbr. on old Asian maps
• Cold War-era abbr.
• CIS preceder
• 'Back in the ___'
• See 23-Across
• Cold War nation
• Cold War era letters
• Khrushchev's home (Abbr.)
• Gorbachev's fed.
• KGB's land
• Pre-'91 superpower
• Moscow's fed., once
• KGB's place
• Brezhnev's fed.
• Stalin's empire
• Brezhnev's empire
• Former Russian nation: Abbr.
• One-time Red giant (abbr.)
• Red state, once
• Pre-'91 world power
• Old NATO target
• Locale in a Beatles title
• Old map initials
• Gorbachev's empire
• Cold War country: Abbr.
• Boycotter in 1984 headlines
• 1984 summer Olympics no-show
• Reagan's "evil empire," for short
• Red power, initially
• Red state, formerly
• Georgia was a part of it: Abbr.
• It broke up in 1991: Abbr.
• One of the WWII Allies
• Letters on old Asian maps
• 1979 Afghanistan invader: Abbr.
• Country founded in 1922 (abbr.)
• Beatles' 'Back in the ___'
• It dissolved in Dec. 1991
• Sov. Union
• It ceased to be in Dec. 1991
• Bygone U.N. member
• Letters for an ex-superpower
• Whence the villains in the original "Red Dawn"
• "Master and Margarita" locale
• Software purchaser
• Cold war initals
• It dissolved in December 1991
• Ally of E. Germany
• Letters on the Allied side in WWII
• Bloc established officially in Moscow in 1922
• Apt anagram of "Russ."
• State for which "Animal Farm" is an allegory
• Red giant that's broken apart
• Cold War opponent: Abbr.
• Gorbachev led it last
• Space-race participant
• Stalin's land
• Letters on Gagarin's helmet
• Bygone atlas initals
• KGB's country
• Cold way letters
• Cold War power, briefly
• Stalin's land, in brief
• Gorbachev's land: Abbr.
• Khrushchev's country (abbr.)
• Defunct acronym
• BOAC destination in a Beatles hit
• Biggest breakup of 1991
• Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signatory, briefly
• It broke up in 1991
• Nation once led by Gorbachev, abbr.
• World power until 1991: Abbr.
• Miracle on Ice loser of '80
• Lith. and Ukr. were part of it
• Euro has-been
• Red giant that disintegrated?
• Group of red states, for short?
• KGB's milieu
• Initialism in a Beatles title
• Empire until '91
• Khrushchev's land, for short
• Abbr. in outdated atlases
• Vanished superpower
• Russia between 1917 and 1991 (abbr.)
• Gorbachev's land
• It broke up in 1991 (abbr.)
• "Back in the ___" (Beatles jam)
• Gorbachev's nation, once
• Gorbachev's land, for short
• BOAC flier's destination in a 1968 song
• One 29-Across of the U.S. in W.W. II
• Pre-'91 empire
• Moscow's land, once (Abbr.)
• 1991 breakup newsmaker
• Brezhnev's domain
• Cold War country, briefly
• Moscow's land, once
• Onetime USA foe
• Cold war concern
• 'Back in the '
• "Back in the ___, you don't know how lucky you are, boy"
• Amer. ally in WWII
• Former Soviet inits.
• Where Kazakhstan was, once
• Country in a classic Beatles title
• Map initials until 1991
• " . . . riddle wrapped in a mystery"
• CCCP to us
• SALT I participant
• Space race competitor, for short
• Uzbek, Tajik, etc.
• Atlas initials until 1991
• Superpower no more
• Nation in stunning 1991 news
• America's Cold War foe, for short
• World power inits. until '91
• Fed. of Brezhnev
• Second country to develop the atom bomb
• Former superpower
• Sputnik's birthplace
• Foe in a four-plus-decade "war"
• Stalin's fed.
• Country renamed in 1991
• Sputnik launcher, briefly
• UN member, 1945-1991
• Superpower of old
• "red" initials
• World power initials until 1991
• Russia, formerly
• Russia, formerly (Abbr)
• Where Gorbachev ruled (Abbr.)
• '84 Olympics no-show
• State dissolved in 1991
• Largest nation, once
• Home of chess champs, once
• Communist state
• Big blotch on old maps
• Superpower that left the map in the 1990s
• Georgia used to be part of it
• Superpower that split up
• Where the Beatles were "Back in"?
• Billy Joel's Beatles cover "Back in the ___"
• Where The Beatles went "Back" to?
• Beatles were "Back in" it
• Where The Beatles went "Back"
• Former Soviet Union
• Gorbachev's nation: Abbr.
• 1991 breakup site
• Guardian leaders in series ridiculing former union
• Ger. invaded it in June 1941
• Former world power (Abbr.)
• Gorbachev's former domain
• Sputnik's birthplace, for short
• Setting of the 1983 film "Gorky Park"
• Setting of the 1942 book "Behind the Urals"
• Most of Asia, once: abbr.
• Georgia's home, formerly: abbr.
• Vostok launcher
• Former gp. of red states?
• Where to "hear your balalaikas ringing out," in a Beatles tune
• "Back in the___" (1968 song)
• Country that launched Sputnik: Abbr.
• "Miracle on Ice" loser
• Soviet states
• Former federation
• Communist state to 1991
• Stalin's state
• State dissolved 31 December 1991
• It dissolved on 12/31/91
• 70-Down launcher
• TASS country
• Russia, pre-1991
• Former country that was once led by Brezhnev: Abbr.
• Red letters?
• Eastern Bloc letters until 1991
• Nation of Trump senior, a major power no more
• Dissolver of Dec. 1991
• It's Russia now
• Big part of old maps
• American ally in W.W. II
• 1922-91 initials
• Former abbr. for Russia
• World power until 1991, briefly
• Map initials no more
• Nation that found breaking up hard to do: abbr.
• Old map letters: abbr.
• Land in a Beatles song
• Collapsed red giant?
• Former map letters
• Dissolved bloc (abbr.)
• "Evil Empire," per RWR
• Space Race contender
• Estonia's former bloc, briefly
• Setting of several Solzhenitsyn novels
• Bygone map letters
• Largest country until late '91
• "Rocky IV" setting
• Space Race competitor
• Superpower until '91
• Former superpower's letters
• "The Evil Empire" (Abbr.)
• State led by Lenin, in brief
• Allegiance of "The Americans" on TV, ironically
• Space Race inits.
• MiG developer
• CCCP, to the West
• Defunct Asian country, briefly
• Space Race rival of the U.S.
• Former state, disbanded 26 December 1991
• 44-Across' land: Abbr.
• It dissolved in '91
• Khrushchev’s country: Abbr.
• Georgia was once a part of it
• What Russia used to be
• Founding member of the U.N. Security Council, for short
• KGB’s base
• Red states, once
• Mir launcher: Abbr.
• Geographical inits. until 1991
• Red state, once, for short
• Confederation that included Latvia, for short
• Former country occupying much of 22
• KGB organizer
• KGB state, once
• World power from 1922-1991
• "A Gentleman in Moscow" setting, briefly
• Home of the KGB
• Global power that broke up in '91
• Cold War enemy
• World power from 1922 to 1991 (Abbr.)
• Space race initials
• Name in a noted '90s breakup
• Founding member of the U.N. Security Council
• It raised a major red flag
• Space Race country
• Cold War group's letters
• KGB's country, once
• Brezhnev's country
• U.S.'s Space Race competitor
• Leningrad's land, for short
• Red states, once, in brief
• Losing team in the "Miracle on Ice" hockey game
• Federation formed in 1922, for short
• Spy-fi country
• World's largest country from 1922 to 1991
• Old map inits.
• Map inits. until 1991
• Cold War power, in brief
• World power in many spy-fi novels
• Old org. for Armenia
• One side on "The Americans," initially
• One-sixth of the world's ground surface until 1991, in brief
• Space Race rival for the U.S.
• "Miracle on Ice" losing team: Abbr.
• Former governor of Georgia?
• Grp. that launched 41-Across
• Spy-fi side, often
• Russia from 1922-1991
• It's written as "C.C.C.P." in Cyrillic
• Old Russia
• Russia before it was Russia
• Nat. dissolved in 1991
• Letters on an outdated globe
• Spy-fi side
• Locale of a 1991 coup attempt by the Gang of Eight, in brief
• Home to Leningrad, for short
• USA rival in the space drama "For All Mankind"
• Letters on outdated maps
• Letters in a Beatles classic
• See 36-Across
• Bygone world power, for short
• Former country that included five -stan countries, for short
• Sputnik power, briefly
• Cold War rival, initially
• "For All Mankind" side: Abbr.
• Losing team in the "Miracle on Ice"
• Country that boycotted the 1984 Olympics
• Hammer-and-sickle land, for short
• Country whose motto was "Workers of the world, unite!"