Global InformationCouncil of Ministers of the Soviet Union information
 The headquarters of the Council of Ministers in 1989 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 15 March 1946 |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Dissolved | 14 January 1991 |
| Superseding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
| Headquarters | Kremlin Senate, Moscow |
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Совет министров СССР, tr. Sovet Ministrov SSSR, IPA: [sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ɛsɛsɛˈsɛr]; sometimes abbreviated to Sovmin or referred to as the Soviet of Ministers), was the de jure government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), comprising the main executive and administrative agency of the USSR from 1946 until 1991.
During 1946 the Council of People's Commissars was reorganized as the Council of Ministers. Accordingly, the People's Commissariats were renamed as Ministries. The council issued declarations and instructions based on and in accordance with applicable laws, which had obligatory jurisdictional power in all republics of the Union. However, the most important decisions were made by joint declarations with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU), which was de facto more powerful than the Council of Ministers. During 1991 the Council of Ministers was dissolved, and replaced by the newly established "Cabinet of Ministers", which itself disappeared only months later when the USSR was disbanded.
There were seven Chairmen of the Council of Ministers between 1946 and early 1991, who were in effect the Premier of the USSR. After Nikita Khrushchev's dismissal from the jobs of First Secretary of the Communist Party and Premier, to be replaced by Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin respectively, a Central Committee plenum forbade any person to hold the positions of First Secretary and Premier concurrently. The Presidium of the Council of Ministers was the collective decision-making body of government. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, his First Deputy Chairmen, Deputy Chairmen, ministers, State Committee chairmen, Soviet Republican Council of Ministers chairmen and other unspecified personnel were members of the Presidium.