Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic along a waterway. After Stalin's death in March 1953, Stalinabad, was renamed to "Dushanbe" on 10 November 1961 as part of the De-Stalinization program. In February 1990, tensions between the Tajiks and Armenians squared off in the republic's capital Dushanbe. 26 people died and 565 more were injured and the Soviet troops put down the riots. Both Yaqub Salimov, the Interior Minister and the youth activists were convicted for the participation in the riots. Later on 24 August 1990, Tajik SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. By 1991, Tajikistan participated in a referendum in March as part of the
Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations the Axis powers during World War II resulted in a reaction from Soviet authorities which included population transfers that brought Caucasians to Central Asia. Both republics participated in the referendum in March 1991 in an attempt to preserve the Soviet Union in a different form, but was soon hampered by the attempted coup in August of that year. As a consequence, both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan declared their independence in the months of 1991 and became members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in which officially gave way for the dismemberment of the Soviet Union at the end of the year.