ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on to the actual implementation of both international standards and Russian law with reference to cultural rights of national minorities. It is argued that both international and domestic law are affected by informal practices and an elastic approach to legal regulation. Therfore, the chapter focuses on the modes of implementation of international law in Russia, linking these to minority rights and examines the Russian higher courts' application of the Russian legislation on matters relating to minority languages. International law penetrates the Russian legal sphere in continuously novel ways, as it evolves through the expansion of international legal instruments and international jurisprudence. Throughout Russian history exogenous ideas and practices have tended either to be welcomed as positive forces, or rejected as alien and pernicious. This polarisation is reflected in the interview data from two categories of respondents on the issue of the applicability of international law in Russia with reference to protection of minorities and their cultural rights.
