Although Georgian teams withdrew from the
Football Federation of the Soviet Union at the end of 1989, except for
FC Dynamo Sukhumi due to the Russian occupation of Abkhazia (
Abkhazia conflict), they were included in the cup competition and awarded technical losses. The Lithuanian clubs, even though they have withdrawn from most of the Soviet Union competitions, competed at the
1990 Baltic League which was a temporary compromise between the Baltic states and the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, Lithuanian Zalgiris without its agreement was included in the competition and was awarded a technical loss. In addition to Lithuanian and Georgian clubs
Neftçi PFK which was eliminated by
FC Rotor Volgograd on July 17, 1989, never again participated in the Soviet Cup thereafter. Beside the Abkhazia conflict and the already ongoing
Nagorno-Karabakh War in the Caucasus region, number of other places of the falling apart
Soviet Union were engulfed in armed conflicts during the time span of the competition such as the
Transnistrian War in late 1990 and the 1991
January Events in Lithuania. In July of 1990, the
New Union Treaty was proposed at the CPSU Congress. ==Competition overview==