The idea of "Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics" is taken from real life. It was an attempt to reform Soviet Union into less centralized federal system. They wanted to give it a new name but also save acronym (USSR/СССР). This replacement never happened because of August Coup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty).
LOL would the Russian version of this new name even translate to USSR?
yes!
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) = Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (СССР)
Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (USSR) = Союз Суверенных Советских Республик (СССР)
It's funny because the SSRs already had the legal right to secede lol. Why change the name?
The idea of "Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics" is taken from real life. It was an attempt to reform Soviet Union into less centralized federal system. They wanted to give it a new name but also save acronym (USSR/СССР). This replacement never happened because of August Coup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty).
This just proves Gorby was dumb