Main Points of the Soviet Plan

Here are the main points of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s plan to drastically change the Soviet governmental structure:

* Abolish the position of prime minister and downgrade the Council of Ministers, the main government organ, chaired by the prime minister. However, Gorbachev adviser Georgy Shakhnazarov said the council, or Cabinet, would continue to exist as a “working organ” to furnish technical and executive expertise.

* Overhaul the Federation Council, a consultative body of leaders of the 15 Soviet republics plus Gorbachev, granting it a veto over actions of any republic that affect national interests.

* Create a National Security Council, subordinate to Gorbachev, to include chiefs of KGB secret police and Interior Ministry. Its powers and functions were not immediately clear. Political scientist Fyodor M. Burlatsky, editor-in-chief of Literary Gazette, said the council would be the “real Cabinet.”

* Form an elite law-enforcement agency, the Special Service, to fight organized crime, black-marketeering and other illegal acts “engulfing the country.” Its officers could be on the streets in 10 days, Gorbachev said.

* Complete within 14 days a food-distribution plan to ensure that famine does not break out in the Soviet Union this winter.

* Take “operational measures” to guarantee functioning of “life-support systems,” including railroads and coal mines, that have frequently been closed by strikes or ethnic unrest.