Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which is obviously the violation of the sovereignty of the independent Ukraine, called attention to Russia’s current perspective on the sovereignty of the former Soviet states. Justifying his decision, the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, argued that Ukraine’s sovereignty is groundless both legally and historically because it was given and thus made possible only by the policy of the former Bolshevik leaders, namely Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. They were the ones, who decided to uphold the principle of national self-determination, including the right of secession.BR Scrutinizing the historical developments of the legal status of the national republics of the former Soviet Union, this paper argues that Leninist viewpoint of guaranteeing the principle of national self-determination proved not a mistake, as Putin asserts, but a tactical success that enabled the Bolshevik leaders to rally support from various ethnic groups during the civil war and later on. Recognizing its crucial significance, the subsequent Soviet leadership continued to hold the principle of self-determination, ensuring the right of secession, by maintaining the articles in the Constitution of the Soviet Union even though there had been a series of attempts to undermine the legal status of the national republics of the Soviet Union. Therefore, as the current Russian Federation inherited various crucial parts of the legacy of the Soviet Union, it can be seen as the beneficiary of the historical and political achievements of the Soviet past, which was rested upon the ideological building of nationalities, who welcomed and voluntarily joined the Soviet cause through the agreement on the principles of national self-determination and secession.