[1] Soviet passports remained valid in Estonia until 1997,[3] in Kazakhstan until 1999,[4] in Latvia until 2000,[5] in Tajikistan and Ukraine until 2002,[6][7] in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan until 2003,[8][9] in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia until 2004,[10][11][12] in Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan until 2005,[13][14] in Georgia and Lithuania until 2006,[15][16] in Transnistria until 2010,[17] and in Moldova until 2014.

In the late Soviet Union citizens of age sixteen or older had to have an internal passport.

As mentioned, the internal passports identified every bearer by ethnicity (национальность, natsional'nost'), e.g., Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Estonian, Jew, etc.

[20] All residents were required by law to record their address on the document, and to report any changes to a local office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The visual zone has a photograph of the passport holder, data about the passport, and data about the passport owner under the writting "СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК" (UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS):[2] The page next to the data page - the signature page, contains under the emblem of the USSR, the writting "UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS", and contains:[2] Notes on the last page of the passport: Гражданин СССР, прибывший за границу на постоянное жительство, обязан встать на учет в консульском учреждении СССР и сняться с учета при смене места жительства.translation: A citizen of the USSR who has arrived abroad for permanent residence is required to register with the consular office of the USSR and deregister when changing his place of residence.