The Russian political system

Russia is a democratic federal republic with the President as a head of the State.

Following the basic principles of democracy the Constitution provides for the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial branches which are to be independent. Unlike most of the contemporary republics, the President in Russia does not belong to the executive or any other branch of power, although he has enough authority to influence governmental activities. According to the Constitution, the President ensures coordinated functioning and interaction of all the bodies of State power.

The President's main function is to act as a guarantor of the Constitution and of the rights and freedoms of humans and citizens. He takes measures to protect the sovereignty of Russia and determines the guidelines of the internal and foreign policies of the State.

The legislative and representative body of the Russian Federation is the Federal Assembly. The Federal Assembly consists of two chambers – the Council of the Federation and the State Duma. The Council of the Federation includes representatives from each subject of the Russian Federation while the State Duma is an elected chamber containing 450 deputies.

The executive power in Russia is represented by the Government of the Russian Federation which consists of the Chairperson of the Government, Deputy Chairperson of the Government and federal ministries. The President of the Russian Federation appoints the Chairperson of the Russian Government with the consent of the State Duma.

Establishing the judicial power the Constitution emphasizes that justice in the Russian Federation shall be administered by courts alone. The judicial power in Russia is exercised by means of constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings. The fundamental institutions of the Russian judicial system are the Constitution Court, the Supreme Court and the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. The Constitution Court plays the major role in the whole system of government as it considers cases on the correspondence of legislation and regulations at all levels of government to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The Constitution establishes certain provisions for the mechanism of "checks and balances" to be put into effect. Thus, the President may veto laws adopted by the Federal Assembly, but the majority of two thirds of the total number of the members of the Council of the Federation and of the deputies of the State Duma can override the veto.

The President of the Russian Federation presents to the Council of the Federation candidates to be appointed as judges of the Constitution Court, the Supreme Court, the Higher Court of Arbitration, as well as a candidate for the post of the Procurator-General of the Russian Federation, and appoints judges of other federal courts.

The President is also empowered to dissolve the State Duma in case it rejects three times the candidates for the post of the Chairperson of the Government. At the same time the jurisdiction of the State Duma includes bringing an accusation against the President of the Russian Federation for impeachment.

The State Duma may also express no-confidence to the Government of the Russian Federation and the President shall be free to announce the resignation of the Government or to reject the decision of the State Duma. In case the State Duma again expresses no-confidence to the Government during three months, the President may accept this or dissolve the State Duma.

As a federal State, the Russian Federation consists of 89 regions called "subjects (jurisdictions) of federation". These are republics, krais (territories), oblasts (regions), autonomous okrugs (areas) and two cities of federal importance – Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the present time there can be traced a tendency of several regions' aspiration for integration, so we can foresee possible elimination of autonomous okrugs in the near future.

The subjects of federation are declared to be equal. They are empowered to adopt their own legislation within the frameworks determined by the Constitution. They also establish their own systems of regional government independently though in strict accordance with the principles of the constitutional system of Russia.

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