The article considers the patterns of occurrence and overcoming social traumas in modern Russia and their legal consequences. Special attention is paid to such social traumas as attempts to revise the results of the Second World War and the role of the Soviet Union in defeating fascism, the collapse of the USSR and the opportunity of further fragmentation of the Russian state in the 1990s, falling living standards of the Russian population, the destruction of personal, family and professional ties people came across after 1991 in different states. Two models of using social traumas to legitimize the politics pursued in the Russian Federation are highlighted. The importance of law in preventing or overcoming social traumas is shown.