On June 12, Russia celebrates one of its youngest national holidays: Russia Day.
Twenty-four years ago, on June 12, 1990, the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which declared the supremacy of the Russian Constitution and its laws. At first, this holiday was a paradox for many Russians. How were people supposed to celebrate the day on which their country lost its statehood? Then, a year later, on June 12, 1991, another landmark event occurred when Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the RSFSR.
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