The Digital Ruble as an Innovative Tool for Ensuring Russia’s Fiscal Sovereignty or a Threat to Citizens’ Social Rights: The Constitutional Law Dimension

<jats:p>The article is devoted to the constitutional and legal analysis of the digital ruble as an innovative form of the national currency of the Russian Federation. The constitutional grounds for its introduction, the potential as an instrument for ensuring the budgetary and financial sovereignty of the state in the context of sanctions pressure and the transformation of the international financial architecture are being investigated. The article identifies and critically evaluates constitutionally significant risks to the social rights of citizens due to the possibility of programming the digital ruble through smart contracts, potential restrictions on the right to freely dispose of funds, as well as the deepening of digital inequality as a factor restricting equal access to financial instruments. The author qualifies the digital ruble as a constitutional and legal phenomenon located at the intersection of state sovereignty and human rights, and formulates the conditions for its constitutional and legal regulation in order to harmonize public and private interest.</jats:p>