It was thought that the Soviet break-up would be the end of its domination in figure skating.

Following the Soviet break-up, all of its former republics, save for Russia and Kazakhstan, switched to new country codes.

Then, amid the chaos and confusion of the Soviet break-up, there were few world powers who wanted to get involved in the murky politics of the newly independent states.

Robert M. Gates, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said last week that the agency was in the midst of preparing 10 separate National Intelligence Estimates on elements of the Soviet break-up.