What was seriously damaged was the federal constitution of the Soviet Union. Once centralization is out of control, the problem comes. .
Although the Soviet Union is nominally a federal system, it is actually similar to China, with a unitary system. It is highly centralized, but in some ways it is more relaxed than China. For example, some local legislation (of course, it cannot conflict with federal laws) and local management regulations have more relaxed autonomy, so it is a federal country after all, even in name.
But in essence, there is little difference between the Soviet era and the countries that implement the unitary system. The Supreme Soviet and the Presidium are the power centers.
However, it is normal that the federal constitution of the Soviet Union is seriously damaged. Once the central government loses control, something will happen. For example, the federal constitution nominally stipulates: the principle of voluntary equality for all countries to join the Soviet Union, and the right of all countries to freely withdraw from the alliance. It is because the central government is out of control that the participating countries have turned the name into reality, but it is legal. It provides for the freedom to leave the union.
Stalin's era, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, andropov, Chernenko, and early Gorbachev were all the same. The Soviet Union is a highly centralized country, which is not much different from the unitary state, but is very different from the real federalism.
The treatment between the Soviet Union's accession to the WTO and countries and autonomous regions is very different. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are actually homologous, and the treatment of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine is basically the same. Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are also used in important units and important military units. Because we can trust our own people. Followed by other Slavs and other whites in the western Soviet Union. Then there are other ethnic minorities in Central Asia and the Far East, and the ethnic minority areas in Central Asia and the Far East are also the most persecuted. Ethnic minorities in Central Asia and the Far East have always been the object of "key care", so after the disintegration, the conflict between Central Asia and other CIS countries is very sharp.
The ethnic policy of the Soviet Union is very contradictory. On the one hand, it strengthens the subjective consciousness of all ethnic groups, nominally strengthens their independent self-determination, on the other hand, it vigorously promotes Great Russianism.