The Security Council of the RSFSR was legally set up in April 1991 along with the post of the President of the RSFSR (the RSFSR at that time operated as one of the constituent republics of the USSR). The 1993 Constitution of Russia refers to the SCRF in Article 83, which stipulates (as one of the president's prerogatives) that the SCRF is formed and headed by the president of Russia, also saying that the status of the SCRF is to be defined by a federal law.