Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the CPSU, who was also a Politburo member, was the leader of the Secretariat and of the Party. Dual membership in the Secretariat and the Politburo was in practice reserved for two or three very senior members of the Soviet leadership, and in the post-Stalin era (after March 1953) was a stepping-stone to ultimate power. The last five Soviet leaders (Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev) were all senior Secretaries before becoming First or General Secretaries. Additionally, Georgy Malenkov was briefly reckoned as the leader of the Party for a week after Stalin's death by
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Chairman. He was succeeded by: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, the Russian Supreme Soviet became the acting parliament of the Russian Federation with Khasbulatov as Chairman. It was dissolved during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. Supreme Soviet was succeeded by: Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, led by a chairman, was the de jure leader office of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic between 1938 and 1990. It was elected by the Supreme Soviet