Yes, a hard currency deficit cuased by collapsing energy prices which was a main source of their income.That is why they never had any goods on the shelves to sell at the end. They never had a dynamic economy and they had all those third world satellite beggar nations who depended on them for support.Reagan once asked rhetorically in a cabinet meeting what do we have more of than the USSR. Many thought he was referring to missiles. He said money.And that was the game plan to outspend them into oblivion.
So they ammased a huge pile of debt and called it quits?
Wasn’t gold also one of the factors? I seem to recall reading that encouraging South Africa to naintain high gold production dropped the price that the Russians could earn for their gold.
Don’t forget the Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko Debacle that led to Gorby...
After B died, the power struggle between the KGB and the State Party Apparatchiks came out full steam.
That, combined with Reagan’s pressure, energy prices, the failure of the 4th 5-Year Plan in 8 Years, massive corruption, and a transport infrastructure that was crumbling led to food shortages, and even riots.
By 1986, reports said less than 15% of the food leaving the farms was arriving in the cities. I was a Soviet Specialist in those days, and there were periods where the west had NO IDEA who was in charge, or even still alive, in the Kremlin.