Hero (title) - Post-Soviet Titles

Post-Soviet Titles

The titles "Hero of the Soviet Union" and "Hero of Socialist Labor" were awarded until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which resulted in 15 independent republics. Each nation eventually began issuing their own titles, orders and decorations.

Some republics, like the Baltic republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, did not create hero titles. Others, such as Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, continue with their own successor hero titles. The award criteria for these titles were kept largely intact.

Ukraine is the only former Soviet republic to continue the two-hero award system: the "Order of the Gold Star" for heroism, and the "Order of the State" for labor. Georgia established the title "National Hero" and the decoration "Order of National Hero" in 2004. A breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, has its own hero title, "Hero of Abkhazia".