The difficult and dramatic birth of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in December 1993 does not mean that it is a statute burdened by numerous faults and chaotic as the situation in which it originated. This is quite a consistent constitutional act looking for a strong presidency model, similar to the Fifth French Republic. It is doubtful, however, that, according to an eminent scholar of Russian law, William E. Butler, at that time “enacting of the truly democratic constitution for the first time in Russian history” took a place.

Anticipated effect of democratization is not only the establishment of effective democratic institutions, but also to consolidate behavior patterns typical for this system. Unfortunately, this process does not always achieve the assumed effect. It is recognized that the democratic transformation can be completed in three ways: success, failure (back to authoritarian rule), or the establishment of hybrid regime, “hanged” between democracy and authoritarianism. An example of such a system is competitive authoritarianism, which model was firstly described by S. Levitsky and L. A. Way. In the article author intends to analyse the political situation in Ukraine during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych in the years 2010–2013 using this model. Thanks to this an attempt to explain the systemic causes of the events taking place in this country at the turn of 2013 and 2014 will be also undertaken.