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It was made up of two chambers, each with equal legislative powers, with members elected for five-year terms:

• the Soviet of the Union, elected on the basis of population with one deputy for every 300,000 people in the Soviet federation
• the Soviet of Nationalities, supposed to represent the ethnic populations, with members elected on the basis of 25 deputies from each union republic, 11 from each autonomous republic, five from each autonomous region, and one from each autonomous area.

In 1989 there were 750 members in each chamber. The Supreme Soviet met regularly twice a year but it could be called into extraordinary session. The Presidium carried out the day-to-day operations of the Supreme Soviet when it was not in session.

In practice, the Supreme Soviet functioned as a rubber stamp to legislation originating from less representative but more powerful bodies, like the Politburo.

Each republic of the Soviet Union also had its own Supreme Soviet, a one-chamber legislature functioning along similar lines.

The Supreme Soviet officially dissolved the USSR and itself on December 26, 1991. After the dissolution of USSR, the Supreme Soviets of republics of the Soviet Union became the legislatures of independent countries. The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR were the legislature of Russia until being dissolved during the 1993 constitutional crisisBoris Yeltsin was President of the Russian Federation at the time of the crisis. The Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 began in earnest on September 21, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin dissolved the country's parliament, which was increasingly op.