Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR

Background

The parade of sovereignties began in June 1988, and two USSR laws of April 1990 in effect equalized the status of autonomous republics with that of union republics, creating a risk that the RSFSR would lose control over its own autonomies. On 1 June 1990 the USSR-USA maritime boundary agreement cost the RSFSR 34,000 square miles of oil-bearing territorial waters.

Adoption and provisions

The First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the declaration on 12 June 1990 by 907 votes to 13, with 9 abstentions. Its core clause gave the RSFSR Constitution and laws supremacy throughout the republic's territory and provided that the effect of USSR acts contrary to RSFSR sovereign rights would be suspended by the republic on its territory, with disagreements settled under a Union Treaty procedure. The declaration stated that the RSFSR would unite with other republics into a Union on the basis of a Treaty, recognized the sovereign rights of the union republics and of the USSR, and retained the right of free secession from the USSR under the treaty procedure.

It provided that RSFSR territory could not be changed without an expression of the people's will by referendum, and confirmed the necessity of materially expanding the rights of the autonomous republics, autonomous regions, autonomous national areas, territories and regions of the RSFSR. It established republic citizenship of the RSFSR throughout its territory while each RSFSR citizen retained USSR citizenship, and stated that the declaration would be the basis for a new RSFSR Constitution and a Union Treaty. It also guaranteed equal legal possibilities for citizens, political parties, social organizations, mass movements and religious organizations to participate in state and social affairs, and made separation of legislative, executive and judicial power a major principle of the RSFSR as a rule-of-law state.

Assessment and results

Adopting the declaration was an important stage in reforming the Soviet system of state power and in strengthening the territorial integrity of the RSFSR. From 1992, 12 June became a state holiday of the Russian Federation, a non-working day since 1991. Scholarly framing holds that the declaration, cast as a democratic constitutional program promising separation of powers, stronger rights guarantees and greater control over territory and natural resources, in practice challenged the Soviet center's authority from within, weakening the legal unity of the USSR and strengthening Yeltsin's claim that legitimacy flowed from elected republican institutions rather than the party-state. An alternative interpretation treats the declaration as the start of secession from the Soviet Union and of Yeltsin's seizure of power from Gorbachev, pointing to the supremacy and suspension clause as the mechanism. Neither reading is adopted as settled here; both are presented.

Commemoration

12 June became a national holiday in 1992 officially commemorating the declaration vote of 12 June 1990, yet one account notes that only about 6% of Russians recognized it as such, while 33% believed 12 June was an independence day.