Republics of the Soviet Union

In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. Within their limits of autonomy all of them were socialist republics ruled by the corresponding Communist parties. They are all independent countries now; 12 of them (all except the Baltic states) are, only very loosely, organized under the heading Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Soviet Union was a confederation. In accordance with article 72 of the Soviet constitution adopted in 1977, each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR.

The USSR was a highly centralised and authoritarian entity. Under the constitution adopted in 1936 and modified along the way until October 1977, the political foundation of the Soviet Union was formed by the Soviets (Councils) of People's Deputies. These existed at all levels of the administrative hierarchy, with the Soviet Union as a whole under the nominal control of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, located in Moscow. The role of the Soviets in the individual republics and other territories was primarily to put into effect the decisions made by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Soviet Union in its final state

Soviet Republics Armenian SSR Azerbaijan SSR Byelorussian SSR Estonian SSR Georgian SSR Kazakh SSR Kirghiz SSR Latvian SSR Lithuanian SSR Moldavian SSR Russian SFSR Tadzhik SSR Turkmen SSR Ukrainian SSR Uzbek SSR

Independent Countries Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan

Sorted by region

Russian SFSR The Baltic Republics Estonian SSR Latvian SSR Lithuanian SSR The West Byelorussian SSR Moldavian SSR Ukrainian SSR

The Caucasus (Transcaucasian Republics) Armenian SSR Azerbaijan SSR Georgian SSR Republics of Central Asia Kazakh SSR Kirghiz SSR Tadzhik SSR Turkmen SSR Uzbek SSR

Russia is by far the largest in area, it spans both Europe and Asia. Of the other 14, Kazakhstan is by far the largest. Russia is also by far the most populated, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are next, in that order.

Other Soviet republics

• Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were from 1922 until 1936 organized in the Transcaucasian SFSR.
• The Karelo-Finnish SSR existed between March 31, 1940, and July 16, 1956.
• Under the threat of intervention, a formally independent "buffer" Far East Republic briefly existed in 1920s with the capital at Vladivostok.
• Turkestan SSR (1921 - 1924), now Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
• An attempt to declare the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic was made during the Soviet assault in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1922, by the Polish Provisional Revolutionary Committee headed by Julian Marchlewski in Bialystok.

Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union

A number of nations had autonomy within the main Soviet republics and called Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, or ASSRs. Their number and status have been changing over time.

• Buryat ASSR, now Buryatia
• Bashkir ASSR, now Bashkortostan
• Checheno-Ingush ASSR (1936--1944), (1957--1990), now Chechnya
• Chuvash ASSR, now Chuvashia
• Dagestan ASSR, now Dagestan
• Karelian ASSR (1923--1940), (1956--1991) now Republic of Karelia
• Kabardino-Balkar ASSR (1936--1944), (1957--1990), now Kabardino-Balkaria
• Kabardin ASSR (1944--1957) (Balkars repressed), now Kabardino-Balkaria
• Kalmyk ASSR, now Kalmykia
• Komi ASSR, now Komi Republic
• Marijskaya ASSR, now Mari El
• Moldavian ASSR (1924--1941), now Moldova
• Mordovskaya ASSR, now Mordvinia
• Nakhchivan ASSR (1937--?), now Nakhichevan
• North Ossetin ASSR (1936--1990), now North Ossetia-Alania
• Tatar ASSR, now Tatarstan
• Turkestan ASSR (1918 --1921), later Turkestan SSR, now Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
• Kazakh ASSR (?--?)
• Tuva ASSR (1961--1992), now Tuva
• Udmurt ASSR, now Udmurtia
• Volga German ASSR (1918--1941)
• Yakut ASSR, now Yakutia

Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union

A number of smaller nations had autonomy within the main Soviet republics and called Autonomous Oblasts, or AO.

• Adygeiskaya AO
• Cherkesskaya AO
• Jewish AO
• Gorno-Altai AO
• Karachay-Cherkesskaya AO
• Khakasskaya AO
• Dzierzynszczyzna(1932--1935), Polish autonomous district in Belarus
• Marchlewszczyzna(1926--1935), Polish autonomous district in Ukraine

Timeline

• 1922 - Soviet Union formed from Russian SFSR, Transcaucasian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR
• 1924 - Turkmen SSR and Uzbek SSR split from Turkestan SSR
• 1929 - Tajik SSR split from Uzbek SSR
• 1936 - Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR split from RSFSR
• 1936 - Transcaucasian SFSR split into Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR and Azerbaijan SSR.
• 1939 - Part of Poland (known as Kresy, Eastern Poland, or Western Belarus) annexed and added to Byelorussian SSR
• 1940 - Karelo-Finnish SSR created from Karelian ASSR in Russia
• 1940 - Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR annexed
• 1940 - Part of the Ukraine's Moldavan ASSR made into Moldavian SSR along with territory annexed from Romania
• 1944 - Tuva became a part of Russian SFSR
• 1945 - Part of East Prussia annexed from Germany and added to Russian SFSR as the Kaliningrad oblast exclave
• 1945 - Wolhynian Voivodship of post-WWI Poland added to Ukraine as Volyn region.
• 1945 - Kuril islands and the southern part of Sakhalin added to Russian SFSR
• 1954 - Crimea transferred from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR
• 1956 - Karelo-Finnish SSR became the Karelian ASSR in Russia again