Original Russian-language document. Published by the Donetsk People's Republic legislative portal (Законодательство ДНР). Consolidated text reflects amendments adopted through 6 March 2020. The DPR was a self-proclaimed entity not recognised under international law; it was formally annexed by the Russian Federation on 30 September 2022.
The founding constitutional document of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in the consolidated version in force as of 6 March 2020. The constitution claims sovereignty over the full territory of Donetsk Oblast, designates Russian as the state language (alongside Ukrainian and Greek), and establishes a presidential-parliamentary system closely mirroring Russian federal constitutional structures. It provides the formal legal basis for the DPR's separate legislative, executive, and judicial institutions — including the People's Council (parliament), the Head of State, and a Constitutional Court — which operated as instruments of Russian-backed proto-statehood prior to formal annexation. The constitution's provisions on citizenship, territorial claims, and state language are directly relevant to the passportisation and Russification policies documented across the TOT Insights platform.
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Preamble (excerpt)
We, the multinational people of the Donetsk People's Republic, asserting our right to self-determination, proceeding from the responsibility for our Fatherland before present and future generations, recognising ourselves as part of the Russian World, adopt this Constitution as the fundamental law of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Article 1 — Statehood
The Donetsk People's Republic is a sovereign, democratic, law-governed, social state. The source of power in the Donetsk People's Republic is its multinational people.
Article 2 — Territory
The territory of the Donetsk People's Republic encompasses the territory of Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine as of the moment of the proclamation of sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Article 10 — State Language
The state languages of the Donetsk People's Republic are Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek. The official language of state bodies, organisations, and institutions is Russian. The use of other languages in official settings is regulated by law.
Article 11 — Citizenship
Citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic possess equal rights and obligations. Citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic may simultaneously hold the citizenship of another state.
Article 18 — Human Rights
Human rights and freedoms and civil rights are recognised and guaranteed in the Donetsk People's Republic in accordance with generally recognised principles and norms of international law and this Constitution.
Analytical note
The constitutional claim over the full territory of Donetsk Oblast (Art. 2) and the elevation of Russian as the working language of state institutions (Art. 10) prefigure the Russification and administrative absorption policies documented across TOT Insights outputs. The provision permitting dual citizenship (Art. 11) provided the legal basis within DPR domestic law for the simultaneous Russian passportisation programme. The constitution ceased to have legal effect upon formal annexation on 30 September 2022, when the territory was incorporated into the Russian Federation as the Donetsk People's Republic federal subject.