14 June 2021
The Day of Russia is an important state holiday of the Russian Federation, celebrated annually on June 12. Until 2002, it was named as the Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia. This is one of the youngest public holidays in the country. On June 12, 1990 the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Russia, which proclaimed the supremacy of the Constitution of Russia and its laws. By that time, many republics of the USSR had already made a decision on their sovereignty, therefore this document was adopted in conditions when the republics, one after another, became independent. An important milestone in the strengthening of Russian statehood was the adoption of a new name for the country - the Russian Federation (Russia). In addition to independence it was on June 12 when Russia acquired its first President - on this day, but in 1991, the first nationwide open presidential elections in the history of the country were held.