Part of the country series of articles.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: EXERCISE HEIGHTENED CAUTIONPARSTATE advises that Soviet law varies between constituent soviets, and offensive speech and customs may be strictly penalised. It is important for travellers to familiarise themselves with local laws before arrival. The Commonwealth has no ability to interfere in legal proceedings.
| Union of Soviet Republics | |
|---|---|
| Federal Union of Soviet Republics | |
 |
|
| Capital | Odessa |
| Languages | Russian, Ukrainian, and many regional languages |
| Population | 382 million |
The Union of Soviet Republics (Soviet Union) is a federal state spanning much of Eurasia, formed from the collapse of Bolshevik authority during the Russian Civil War. What began as a peasant rebellion against grain requisitioning (met eventually with chemical weapons) snowballed into a broader coalition of Red, Green and Black Army factions who agreed on little except opposition to the Bolsheviks. The capital is Odessa, chosen for its distance from Moscow and Kyiv and its reputation as a cosmopolitan and intellectually open city, even if other cities played a larger role in the rebellion itself.
The country is governed through constituent Soviets that vary considerably in political character. Some are orthodox socialist republics; others retain anarchist or agrarian traditions descending from the Green and Black movements. The Supreme Soviet in Odessa holds real authority over defence, planning and foreign policy, but the diversity of the Soviets beneath it is mostly genuine. The economy is centrally planned and heavily computerised, managed by a technocratic planning apparatus that is among the most sophisticated in the world.