With the sudden chill in relations between the US and Russia I went on the hunt for a birthchart for modern Russia and found this is a complicated question.

December 8, 1991 is the date that Belarus, the Russian Federation and the Ukraine announced the Minsk Declaration which dissolved the Soviet Union, but the agreement wasn’t ratified by the Russian Parliament until the 12th of December that year at 13:22 according to Nick Campion. On the other hand, Adrian Ross Duncan uses the chart of December 25, 1991 when the flag for the new Russia began flying at the Kremlin.

The late Zipporah “Zip” Dobyns, one of the world’s most celebrated astrologers, uses yet another chart: the chart of Gorbachev’s resignation in August of 1991. Her reasoning in using this chart is because “it works” to explain subsequent events better than the other dates. With all due respect to the memory of Ms. Dobyns, this doesn’t seem a very scholarly way to approach the birth of a nation.

To me the date that makes the most sense from a historical point of view is the date that the Russian Federation declared its independence from the Soviet Union which was June 12, 1990. This is the date that the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration on Russia’s National Sovereignty which seems to me to be a very formal declaration of statehood and a strong basis for an astrological chart. This is the day that is celebrated as the Day of Russia and is identified by modern Russians as the birth of their nation.

This chart is a very interesting one, with a 26 degree Virgo ascendant which has been squared by Pluto over the past several years. The Sun in Gemini is prominently placed on the Midheaven showing a changeable nature, and an exact opposition between Venus and Pluto illustrates the destruction and regeneration of many of modern Russia’s alliances since its inception as well as the fact that its partners are its worst enemies.

Tune in tomorrow for a more in-depth look at this chart and its relevance to Vladmir Putin and the United States.