The official religion of the USSR was atheism. The government’s plan was to completely remove religion. That plan failed, and by the late 1980s three orthodox churches claimed substantial memberships there despite issues and persecutions. The USSR government targeted religions based on state interests. Once religion started to spread in the Soviet Union, many Russians considered themselves Orthodox Christians, but up to 30% of the population were not ethnic Russian nor Orthodox. Other religions among the population were Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, Baptism, Buddhism and so on. Joseph Stalin did not like religion and called for an atheist five-year plan from 1932 to 1937 to focus on military strength and economy which was led by the LMG to eliminate all religious expressions in the USSR. It was declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union, which did not work.