State Council of the Soviet Union

State Council of the USSR

Государственный Совет СССР
Agency overview
Formed	5 September 1991
Preceding agency	Soviet of the Federation of the Soviet Union
Dissolved	26 December 1991
Superseding agency	Council of Heads of State of the CIS
Jurisdiction	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Headquarters	Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union

Following the August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, the State Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: Государственный Совет СССР), but also known as the State Soviet, was formed on 5 September 1991 and was designed to be 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's republics. During the period of transition it was the highest organ of state power, having the power to elect a prime minister, 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]