Freedom of conscience and the institution of protecting the of believers’ feelings in Russia: historical and legal aspect

The historical experience of the development of legal norms for the protection of the right to freedom of conscience is considered. The importance of ensuring and protecting freedom of conscience in such a multinational and multi-confessional country as Russia was noted. The correlation of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of expression is revealed on the example of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The data of sociological studies demonstrating the transformation since the late 1990s are presented. in determining the significance of the fundamental characteristics of democracy by Russians, as well as the results of a field study conducted in 2020-2021 on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan. According to the latter, among the institutional attributes of democracy, freedom of religion is in the first place for active believers of Bashkortostan. Freedom of speech and the press seems to be 2 times less significant.