The Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (also known as the 'Soviet Union', the 'USSR' or sometimes as the 'Sovereign Soviet Union') is a socialist confederation of fifteen socialist republics located in Eurasia. Formed out of Imperial Russia in 1922 by Vladimir Lenin the Soviet Union is the world's first example of a communist state. Until 1991, the Soviet Union was known as the 'Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' after which it was reformed into its current form as the 'Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics'.