Sovereignty as a Symbol of the Russian State Unity

Abstract

The article considers sovereignty as one of the key symbols of post-Soviet Russian statehood. The sovereignty proclaimed on June 12, 1990 became a key element for the Russian state system formation even before the collapse of the USSR. At the same time, the sovereignty adopted by the autonomous republics has become a threat to the Russia integrity. Understood in different ways, double-edged, used in political situations to justify different positions, sovereignty appears not only as a state and legal, but also a symbolic phenomenon combining different interpretations and meanings. Throughout the entire period of modern history, sovereignty remains one of the complex and contradictory phenomena of Russian statehood. In modern conditions, increased attention is again paid to state sovereignty in connection with the constitutional amendments of 2020 and the stated need to protect and strengthen the Russian Federation sovereignty. The article examines in detail the period when sovereignty became one of the key points of the federal structure discussion of drafting the Russian Constitution in 1993. During this period the issue of the state indivisibility sovereignty was seemingly resolved by adopting a new Constitution. The research is based on the constitutional process materials and uses the historical and genetic method. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the symbolic side of sovereignty requires special attention because of the unified sovereignty of the Russian state combining many meanings and associations is a multi-complex phenomenon.