Printable ScholarSoviet Union (USSR) Map
A free printable map of the Soviet Union, the USSR, showing its 15 republics from 1956 to 1991, each in its own color, with Moscow and the capital of every republic. It comes in color, black and white, and blank.
Choose your version
Black and white, color or blank.
All three are free PDFs sized for US Letter paper.
Black and white
Everything named on a plain outline map with no terrain. No color ink needed.
downloadBlack and white PDF
Color
Each of the 15 republics in its own color, with its name and capital.
downloadColor PDF
Blank
The black-and-white map with its routes and markers but no names, for labeling practice.
downloadBlank PDFThe 15 Soviet republics
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR or Soviet Union, was formed in 1922, five years after the Russian Revolution, and lasted until December 1991. It was the largest country in the world, about 22.4 million square kilometers (8.6 million square miles), stretching across eleven time zones from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. It was a union of republics, each named for its main nationality, and from 1956 there were 15 of them. By far the largest was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which held most of the land and about half the people, and Moscow was the capital of both Russia and the whole union. The Communist Party ran the government from Moscow. The Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were added in 1940. In 1991 the republics declared independence one after another, and on December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union came to an end. Each of the 15 republics became an independent country.
On the map
- Moscow: capital of the Soviet Union and of the Russian SFSR
- Kiev (Kyiv): capital of the Ukrainian SSR
- Minsk: capital of the Belorussian SSR (Belarus)
- Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius: capitals of the three Baltic republics
- Kishinev (Chisinau): capital of the Moldavian SSR
- Tbilisi, Yerevan and Baku: capitals of the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs
- Alma-Ata (Almaty), Tashkent, Ashkhabad (Ashgabat), Frunze (Bishkek) and Dushanbe: capitals of the five Central Asian republics
Find it on the map
- The Russian SFSR, stretching from Europe to the Pacific
- The Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia
- The small republics squeezed between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
The republic borders are drawn from today’s Natural Earth borders of the 15 countries that grew out of the Soviet republics, which follow the old borders closely. Crimea is shown as part of Ukraine, as it was from 1954. City names are the Soviet-era spellings, with today’s names in the list above. Coastlines and rivers are shown as they are today.
Frequently asked questions
What were the 15 Soviet republics?
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (Belorussia), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova (Moldavia), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan (Kirghizia) and Tajikistan. Each one is an independent country today.
What was the capital of the Soviet Union?
Moscow, which was also the capital of the Russian SFSR, the largest republic.
How big was the Soviet Union?
About 22.4 million square kilometers (8.6 million square miles), about one sixth of the land on Earth. It was the largest country in the world and crossed eleven time zones.
When did the Soviet Union end?
On December 26, 1991, after its republics had declared independence during that year. The day before, its leader Mikhail Gorbachev resigned.