Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1947 by politician Nikolai Bulganin. Two Marshals were executed in postwar purges: Kulik in 1950 and Beria in 1953, following Stalin's death. Thereafter the rank was awarded only to professional soldiers, with the exception of Leonid Brezhnev, who made himself a Marshal in 1976, and Ustinov, who was prominent in the arms industry and was appointed Defence Minister in July 1976. The last Marshal of the Soviet Union was Dmitry Yazov, appointed in 1990, who was imprisoned after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Marshal Sergei Akhromeev committed suicide in 1991 during the fall of the Soviet
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union () was the most authoritative legislative body of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics beginning 1936, and the only one with the power to approve constitutional amendments. (The Congress of Soviets was the supreme legislative body from 1917 to 1936. During 1989-1991 a similar, but not identical (elected directly by the people instead of local Soviets) structure (Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union) was the supreme legislative body.) It elected the Presidium, served as the collective head of state of the USSR, and appointed the