Days of Great Military Victories in the Russian Legal Space

The article is devoted to the legal aspects of historical past commemoration in modern Russian legislation on festive victory dates. The purpose of the work is to determine the role of legal mechanisms in the construction of collective memory, the formation of national identity and the strengthening of state, cultural and historical sovereignty through the legal consolidation of key historical events. The research methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining formal-legal, historical-legal and systematic methods. The methodological approach of constructivism used in the work makes it possible to demonstrate the peculiarities of the formation of legal and patriotic consciousness due to the transformation of historical events into elements of national identity. The article reflects the issues of preserving and protecting historical truth through the legal regulation of the official commemorative calendar using the example of the constitutional amendments of 2020, the norms of the Federal Law “On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia”, as well as other legislative acts. Special attention is paid to the consideration of topical issues of unifying of the chronology of victory dates. The interrelation between the historical memory of key military victories and other memorable dates, their legal consolidation, the processes of formation of legal and patriotic consciousness, and the strengthening of the country’s sovereignty is revealed. The conducted research allows us to conclude that the legal regulation of victory dates performs not only memorial, but also ideological and educational functions. Legal and cultural patterns that form the values of citizens are transmitted through legislation: patriotism, generational continuity, and rejection of historical revisionism. The role of law in preserving the foundations of national culture and as a guarantor of national sovereignty is emphasized, especially in the context of geopolitical confrontation and information wars, including through modern technologies.