2027 Russia Day

Russia Day on June 12 commemorates the 1990 adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, a milestone on the road to the end of the Soviet Union; on the same date in 1991 Boris Yeltsin was elected in Russia's first presidential election. It has been a public holiday since 1992 and was given its current name in 2002. The President presents the State Prizes of the Russian Federation in a Kremlin ceremony, the tricolour flag is raised in city squares, and concerts, folk performances and fireworks are held across the country, with a large open-air concert on Red Square in Moscow. Being a June day off, it is popular for dacha trips and outdoor festivals, and it frequently forms a long weekend, so trains and resorts around Moscow and St. Petersburg are busy. Shops stay open but government offices close. This countdown ticks to midnight Moscow time on June 12.