Republics of the Soviet Union (New Union)



The Republics of the Soviet Union, often called the Union Republics (: союзные республики soyuznyye ryespubliki), are the primary subdivisions of the. Each republic is considered sovereign internationally, but all united under a confederation. As of 2010, the Soviet Union consists of 33 republics.

Federation or Unitary state
Since the beginning of the Soviet Union in 1922, all the republics were divided based on ethnics. Prior to the formation of the USSR, the Russian Empire had strong control over the non-Russian/Slavic groups, almost to the point of being second class citizens.

With the October revolution in 1917, the Russian Empire fell and several rouge nations took its place. In December 1922, four of these republics (the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasia SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Belorussian SSR) will become united under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. By the end of the Cold War, the USSR consisted of 15 republics (most of which were Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics [ASSRs] that were made into full republics).

Since 1922, the Soviet Union was (constitutionally) a federation, but in practice, the USSR was a highly centralized entity. The centralized government will come into question in the mid-1980s with and his reforms. After the reformation of the USSR in 1991, total sovereignty was given to the republics, and the USSR actually became a federation.