Comment: This provision for expulsion of republics from the Union is doubly ironic in view of the fact that the Treaty omits any provision for secession, a right which was nominally recognized from the very beginning of the USSR and "guaranteed" under all previous Soviet constitutions.
Comment: Notwithstanding the alleged voluntary nature of the Treaty, this provision makes clear that each republic is being presented with a non-negotiable ultimatum: either continue under the 1922 Treaty, or adopt its substantial equivalent, the Union Treaty.