On June 12, 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted a Declaration on the Sovereignty of Russia.
This move was predetermined after Boris Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR in May 1990.
Then Boris Yeltsin goes even further. In July 1990, he left the Communist Party, openly demonstrating his disobedience to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.
The date was declared a holiday in 1992, and until 2002 it was called the Day of Adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
The declaration marked the beginning of the constitutional reforms and the proclamation of the independence of the RSFSR. In 1991, on this day, the first elections for the president of the Russian Federation took place, in which Boris Yeltsin won.
By the decree of the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin from 1994, June 12 was declared the Day of State Sovereignty. In 2001, the holiday received its current name and became a national holiday of Russia.
A significant part of Russian citizens do not recognize this day as a holiday, associating it with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Traditionally, on Russia Day, the president presents State Awards to figures of science and culture.