Съезд народных депутатов СССР
In 1987, during the perestroika period, Burbulis organized the Sverdlovsk Podium, an open forum for discussing local and later national social, political and economic problems. In 1989 he was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union. He was one of the initiators of the Inter-regional Deputies’ Group, the first legally organized opposition in the Soviet Union, which was later credited by some with being one of the prime catalysts for democratic reform.