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Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР; Predsedatel' Soveta Narodnykh Komissarov SSSR) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР; Predsedatel' Soveta Ministrov SSSR) (1946-1991), who was the head of government in the Soviet Union.

However, the most important decisions were passed jointly with the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, the latter being more influential in such cases. After Lenin's death the key position in the Politburo and the country was the General Secretary.

As some Soviet leaders held both positions at the same time, the western press often referred to the General Secretary as the "premier of the Soviet Union" regardless of whether the man actually held the office. For example Leonid Brezhnev was often referred to by the title without ever holding the office.

[edit] Premiers of the Soviet Union

T#	A#	Name	Term start	Term end
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
1		Vladimir Lenin	6 July 1923	21 January 1924
2		Alexey Rykov	2 February 1924	19 December 1930
3		Vyacheslav Molotov	19 December 1930	6 May 1941
4		Joseph Stalin	6 May 1941	15 March 1946
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR
4	1	Joseph Stalin	19 March 1946	5 March 1953
5	2	Georgy Malenkov	6 March 1953	8 February 1955
6	3	Nikolay Bulganin	8 February 1955	27 March 1958
7	4	Nikita Khrushchev	27 March 1958	15 October 1964
8	5	Alexei Kosygin	15 October 1964	23 October 1980
9	6	Nikolai Tikhonov	23 October 1980	27 September 1985
10	7	Nikolai Ryzhkov	27 September 1985	14 January 1991
Prime Minister of the USSR
11	1	Valentin Pavlov	14 January 1991	22 August 1991
12	2	Ivan Silayev	6 September 1991	25 December 1991

[edit] See also