День Росси́и [Russia Day] is национа́льный [a national] пра́здник [holiday] of the Russian Federation celebrated on June 12. On this day in 1990, the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

Пра́здник [the holiday] has been celebrated ка́ждый год [every year] since 1992. Пе́рвый [the first] президе́нт [President] of Russia Бори́с [Boris] Е́льцин [Yeltsin] proposed to rename пра́здник [the holiday] into “День Росси́и” [“Russia Day”] in 1998. It was officially renamed in 2002.

Согла́сно [according to] a survey conducted in 2012, 43% of people believed that June 12 is День незави́симости Росси́и [Russia’s Independence Day], 14% couldn’t explain what э́тот пра́здник [the holiday] was about, 5% didn’t consider it пра́здник [a holiday] at all, and 2% believed the holiday to be годовщи́на [an anniversary] of the first президе́нтских [presidential] вы́боров [elections] in Russia (Source: k-vedomosti.ru).

The gallery images above are from Russia Day celebrations 2004-2011 (Source: denrossii.ru)