ABSTRACT
The Ministry of Finance in 1987 was remarkably similar in structure and duties to the Imperial Ministry of Finance of early 1917, with one important exception. The main function of the Ministry of Finance was, as its name implies, to finance government operations. It used three means of financing: robbery, confiscation, and requisition; printing or creating money, and taxation. The broad legislative power of the USSR Ministry of Finance was long important at both the Union and the republic levels. During a financial scandal in early 1991, involving a huge rubles-for-dollars deal negotiated by officials of the Russian Republic Government, the Union Ministry of Finance offered an expert opinion that the deal was illegal. Although it is unclear how financial powers will be allocated between the republics in the new Commonwealth of Independent States, the functions of the former USSR Ministry of Finance should survive the reallocation of power over finances to the republics.
