$OH[DQGHU6DOHQNR Treaty and created in its place the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Finally, on 31 December 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Despite the coup d’état in August 1991 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the new Citizenship Law of the RSFSR was adopted on 28 November 1991 (and entered into force from 6 February 1992).32 Thus, the new citizenship legislation has been admitted as the Soviet Union still existed, but this citizenship law entered into force after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.33 The 1991 Citizenship Law remained in force for the next decade until the beginning of 2002. An additional peculiarity was caused by the fact that the 1991 citizenship law entered into force two years before the adoption of the Russian Constitution on 12 December 1993. Nevertheless, the 1991 Citizenship Law can be considered as the first full-fledged citizenship legislation of the modern independent Russian state.34 In 1991, there were several reasons for the adoption of the new citizenship legislation. The modern Russian state had to get rid of rigid Soviet provisions to bring Russian citizenship legislation in line with international standards. In particular, it was necessary to bring the 1991 Citizenship Law into accord with article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates the right of every person to citizenship, the right to free choice of citizenship and the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of citizenship. Therefore, the provisions regarding the deprivation of citizenship were not included into the 1991 Citizenship Law. The legislator also avoided incorporating the principle of non-recognition of dual citizenship, but was still cautious regarding opportunities to obtain an additional citizenship. According to Act 3 of the 1991 Citizenship Law, a citizen of the RSFSR can be allowed to obtain the citizenship of a foreign state which has an agreement with the RSFSR. Thus, in 1991-1993, the dual citizenship remained under the control and discretion of the state authorities. Later, as the 1993 Constitution of Russia entered into force, the provisions of the 1991 Citizenship Law were changed to allow that a ‘citizen of the Russian Federation may hold the citizenship of a foreign state (dual citizenship) according to federal law or an international agreement of the Russian Federation’ (see art.62 (1) of the 1993 Russian Constitution). The 1991 Russian Citizenship Law retained the old fashioned two-level construction of citizenship: Citizenship of Russia and Republican Citizenship (i.e. of the former autonomous republics inside the RSFSR). As in the Soviet Union, in the modern Russia the republican citizenship remained without any practical application throughout 1990s. Some of the republics of the Russian Federation adopted special legislation but it remained without any practical implementation. An additional declarative provision for honorary citizenship of Russia was established by the legislator in Article 8 of the 1991 Citizenship Law. 3.3.2 The Russian Citizenship by default - zero option A central element of the new citizenship law was the definition of the original body of citizens of the Russian Federation. As in the case of several other former Soviet Republics, the Russian legislator applied the so-called ‘zero option’.35 In accordance with article 13 of the Russian Citizenship Law 1991/1992 (Law no. 1948-I of 28 November 1991, as amended on 6 February 1995) all citizens of the former USSR who were permanent residents in Russia on 6 February 1992 (the date of entry into force of the Citizenship Law) automatically obtained Russian citizenship 32 The Law of the RSFSR from 28.11.1991 N 1948-1 «About the citizenship of the RSFSR» // Russian gazette. N 30, 06.02.1992. - Later, after the new Constitution was adopted, special amendments were made to the 1991 Citizenship Law in order to replace ‘RSFSR’ with ‘the Russian Federation’. 33 Vasilyev V. Citizenship after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Narodny deputat. 1992. !18. p.55-60. 34 Avakyan S.A. The Citizenship of the Russian Federation. Moscow. 1994. p.5-12. 35 The Russian citizenship legislation defined this procedure as ‘recognition of the citizenship of the RSFSR'.  56&$6(8'2&,7&5‹$XWKRU