The late Soviet period is critically important in understanding the pathways of the post-Soviet transformation of Russian society. The perestroika of 1980s was declared a ‘moral revolution’ and was meant to lead to the ‘moral progress of society’ but resulted in dismantling of the Soviet system. This study employs the concept of moral order, which enables it to embrace several dimensions of morality and to analyse its transformations empirically. The paper makes an original contribution in two ways. First, it provides an original conceptualisation of moral order contributing to the theoretical and conceptual advancement in sociological understanding of morality. The new conceptualisation draws on Durkheim’s scholarship on morality, its interpretation by Hall (1987) and elaboration of constitutive practices by Jayyusi (1991). Second, the paper contributes to the understanding of moral foundations of the post-Soviet Russian society. The study analyses discourses constructed in the public space by powerful authorities: the state and popular media. It focuses on the gradual transformation of moral order and moral obligation. The analysis shows that by mid-1980s and during perestroika period several elements of the Soviet moral order were internally undermined, and the construction of moral obligation was changing, most importantly in relation to the subject of the moral obligation. Those transformations will shape the morality after 1991.