Not sure if this 80s secession attempt is true, but just to add some dimension of complexity, if such things mentioned without a vast context it's guaranteed to

Not sure if this 80s secession attempt is true, but just to add some dimension of complexity, if such things mentioned without a vast context it's guaranteed to be misunderstood. In 80s it was still USSR, and what was "X leadeship" then? Communist party territorial organization, indeed. CPSU had a strict vertically imposed subordination. If it's true X oblast leadership tried to switch from one Soviet territory to another, we're probably talking level of apparatchik's intrigues, at times fueled by personal animosity, or corrupted interests conflict. But wait, there's more. In 80s central Soviet leadership decided to positivily re-brand itself from failed imperial center to a neutral stability sponsor, and started to clandestinely (not so much) encourage irredentism, and separatism in constituent republics to then weigh in as an arbiter, and peace-maker. With that in mind, some of secessionist demands were practically scripted, and sometimes could be even coordinated with republic's KGB heads. (But, of course, with diminishing authority, and resources in Kremlin it went out if control soon, and contributed to many very real conflicts afterwards)