Mikhail Gorbachev and leaders of 10 Soviet republics closed ranks against hard-liners Monday and proposed replacing the current ruling structure with a new government giving the republics far more power.
The proposal apparently would grant independence to the five republics that did not endorse it - the three Baltic states, Moldavia and Georgia - although that issue has not been fully resolved.An interim government, consisting of three councils, would strip the central government of most functions beyond defense and foreign affairs.
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev read the proposals at the opening of an extraordinary session of the Congress of People's Deputies.
After a 31/2-hour break, the Congress reconvened and leaders of delegations of the five major republics - the Russian Federation, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - said they supported the proposals.
Hard-liners at the session had planned an attempt to vote Gorbachev out of the Soviet presidency. Instead, Gorbachev and 10 republic leaders staged a pre-emptive strike to strip power from the Congress and parts of the central government. They then immediately recessed the session and turned off the microphones, denying hard-liners any opportunity to address the body.
The Congress is still dominated by the Communist Party, which was ejected from the national government and had its assets seized in the wake of the failed August coup.
Under the proposal, which must be approved by the 1,900-member Congress, Gorbachev and republic leaders would negotiate a new Union Treaty reconstituting the Soviet Union.
In the interim, the country would be run by three councils: a Council of Representatives of People's Deputies, consisting of 20 lawmakers from each participating republic; a council of leaders from the republics; and an inter-republic economic council, consisting of republic representatives.
The backing of Gorbachev and the 10 republic leaders seemed to give the proposal enough momentum to overcome conservative opposition.
After the Congress recovened Monday afternoon, it overwhelmingly approved a procedural vote to discuss the new proposals rather than take up the agenda that had been set by the Supreme Soviet.
Gorbachev and the republic leaders urged preservation of a single armed force and pledged reform of the military and security agencies such as the KGB and Interior Ministry police.
They also proposed allowing the republics to apply separately to the United Nations to make them subject to international law.
During Monday's recess, the Russian delegation met and approved the proposals by a show of hands. It said it would walk out of the Congress if the body did not accept the proposals.
The Ukrainian delegation, meeting in the Kremlin, approved the proposals but the vote was not unanimous, lawmakers said. "If this is adopted, the old union simply will no longer exist," said Ukrainian deputy Alla Yaroshinskaya.
Nazarbayev said the plan sought "to prevent the uncontrolled dissolution of the union and coordinate actions for the transition period" to a reformed union. He said the failed coup had brought the country "to the verge of a catastrophe."
The Congress - the nation's highest legislative body - was called into what was just its fifth session since its creation two years ago.
Gorbachev and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sat on the front row of lawmakers at the Congress but did not appear on the dais or address the meeting in the Palace of Congresses.
The 10 republics backing the plan were: Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kirgizia, Tadzhikistan, Armenia and Turkmenia. Georgia participated in the discussion, Nazarbayev said.
The plan urged the signing of a treaty to form a union of sovereign states, with each republic free to define its own form of participation in the union and engage in economic union irrespective of political ties, Nazarbayev said.
Reflecting the changes that have swept the Soviet Union since the Aug. 18-21 coup failed, the parliament opened without the customary visage of Vladimir Lenin looking out over the delegates.
A curtain hanging behind the podium said simply, "Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the U.S.S.R."
The Congress of People's Deputies elects from among its ranks the 542-member Supreme Soviet, which passes most of the country's laws.