Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union

The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: Совет Министров СССР), (sometimes shortened to Sovmin or Soviet of Ministers) was legally the Soviet government. It was the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union.

Council of Ministers of the USSR
Совет Министров СССР

Agency overview
Formed	1946
Preceding agency	Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
Dissolved	1991
Superseding agency	Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR
Jurisdiction	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Headquarters	Moscow Kremlin

The council could issue declarations and instructions based the laws of the USSR, and all territories and republics within the Union had to follow them. However, the most important state issues were made by joint declarations with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which was de facto more powerful than the Council of Ministers.^[1]

It was replaced in 1991 by the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, which was dissolved only months later when the Soviet Union ceased to exist.