Russian Constitution of 1978

The Russian Constitution of 1978, formally the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted on April 12, 1978 by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and signed by Mikhail Yasnov. It replaced the republic's 1937 constitution and was created to bring all fifteen Soviet republican constitutions into alignment with the 1977 Constitution of the USSR. As originally adopted it consisted of a preamble and 185 articles applying to the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Between 1989 and 1992 the document underwent extensive amendment, transforming it from a Soviet-era charter into a framework that accommodated multiparty democracy, private property rights and a presidential system, in the years surrounding the Soviet Union's collapse. It remained Russia's foundational legal document for roughly fifteen years, until it was repealed on December 12, 1993 amid a constitutional crisis involving President Boris Yeltsin and replaced by the current Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted by popular referendum.