State Council of the Soviet Union

State Council of the USSR
Государственный Совет СССР
Agency overview
Formed	5 September 1991
Preceding agency	Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union (as supreme government agency) Soviet of the Federation (as coordinating government agency)
Dissolved	26 December 1991
Superseding agency	State Council of the Russian Federation
Jurisdiction	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Headquarters	Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union

The State Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: Государственный Совет СССР), but also known as the State Soviet, formed on 5 September 1991 and was one of the most important government offices in Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union. The members of the council consisted of the President of the Soviet Union, and highest officials (which typically was presidents of their republics) from the Soviet Union Republics. During the period of transition it was the highest organ of state power, having the power to elect a premier, or a person who would take Gorbachev's place if absent; the office of Vice President of the Soviet Union had been abolished following the failed August Coup that very same year.^[1]

References

1. ^ Government of the USSR: Gorbachev, Mikhail (5 September 1991). "ЗАКОН СССР: Об органах государственной власти и управления Союза ССР в переходный период [Law: About state governing bodies of USSR in a transition period On the bodies of state authority and administration of the USSR in Transition]" (in Russian). sssr.su. http://www.sssr.su/zopp.html. Retrieved 15 November 1991.