The Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics (Russian: Союз Суверенных Социалистических Республик [CCCP], transliterated as Soyuz Suverennyh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik [USSR]), also known as Socialist Siberia internationally, the USSR for short, the Socialist Union and as Соцсоюз in the USSR, is the largest and most powerful country of the Northern Hemisphere.