Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Declaration and Treaty on the Creation
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Russian: Декларация и договор об образовании СССР
Ukrainian: Декларація та договір про утворення СРСР
Belarusian: Дэкларацыя і дагавор аб утварэнні СССР
Armenian: Հռչակագիր և պայմանագիր ԽՍՀՄ ստեղծման մասին
Azerbaijani: سسری-نین یارادیلماسی حاقین‌دا بیاننامه و موقاویله
Georgian: დეკლარაცია და ხელშეკრულება სსრკ-ს შექმნის შესახებ
TypeUnion treaty
SignedDecember 29, 1922 (1922-12-29)
LocationMoscow, Russian SFSR
EffectiveDecember 30, 1922 (1922-12-30)
Expiration8 December 1991
(Belovezha Accords signed by Russian,
Ukrainian and Belarusian Soviet Republics)

21 December 1991
(The rest of the Union joined the accords, signing the Alma-Ata Protocol)
26 December 1991
(Union dissolved at ultimate session of the Supreme Soviet)
Signatories
Parties
LanguagesRussian
Map of the USSR at the time of its creation. The Byelorussian SSR is labelled "White Russia."

The Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Декларация и договор об образовании Союза Советских Социалистических Республик) officially created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union. It de jure legalised a political union of several Soviet republics that had existed since 1919 and created a new federal government whose key functions were centralised in Moscow. Its legislative branch consisted of the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union (TsIK), while the Council of People's Commissars composed the executive.

The Treaty, along with the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR was approved on 30 December 1922 by a conference of delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR. The Treaty and the Declaration were confirmed by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets and signed by heads of delegations[1] – Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, and Grigory Petrovsky, Alexander Chervyakov[2] respectively on December 30, 1922. The treaty provided flexibility to admit new members. Therefore, by 1940 the Soviet Union grew from the founding four (or six, depending on whether 1922 or 1940 definitions are applied) republics to 15 republics.

On 8 December 1991, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian presidents signed the Belovezha Accords. The agreement declared the dissolution of the USSR by its remaining founder states (denunciation of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR) and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On 10 December, the accord was ratified by the Ukrainian and Belarusian parliaments. On 12 December, the agreement was ratified by the Russian Parliament, therefore the Russian SFSR renounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russia's independence from the USSR.

On 26 December 1991, the USSR was self-dissolved by the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (the lower house, the Soviet of the Union, was without a quorum).

  1. ^ (in Russian) Voted Unanimously for the Union Archived 2009-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ (in Russian) Creation of the USSR at Khronos.ru