ABSTRACT
According to the Constitution of December 1993, as subsequently revised, the Russian Federation is a democratic, federative, multi-ethnic state, in which state power is divided between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, which are independent of one another. The President, who wields considerable executive authority, is elected for a term of six years by universal direct suffrage, for no more than two consecutive terms. The President appoints the Chairman of the Government (prime minister), but the cabinet must be approved by the legislature. Supreme legislative power is vested in a bicameral Federal Assembly. Since March 2008 the Russian Federation has comprised 83 federal territorial units.
The status of the federal subjects, as the territories are formally known, began to be regularized by the Federation Treaty of 31 March 1992. The former Republic of Checheno-Ingushetiya was divided into two republics in June 1992, by the formal recognition of an Ingush Republic (now the Republic of Ingushetiya). A programme of territorial mergers was implemented in the mid-2000s, as a number of autonomous okrugs were merged into the larger territories of which they formed a part (these autonomous okrugs were both federal subjects in their own right, and partly subordinate to another territory), and between 2005 and 2008 the number of territories was reduced from 89 to 83. The 83 territories comprise 21 republics, nine krais (provinces), 46 oblasts (regions), two cities of federal status (Moscow and St Petersburg), one autonomous oblast and four autonomous okrugs (districts). Republics, autonomous okrugs and the autonomous oblast are (sometimes nominally) ethnically defined, while krais, oblasts and the cities of federal status are defined on territorial grounds. Uniquely among the autonomous okrugs, theChukotAutonomousOkrug is not locatedwithin or under the jurisdiction of another federal subject. In March 2000 President Vladimir Putin grouped the federal subjects into seven Federal Okrugs (districts). These seven Federal Okrugs were the Central Federal Okrug (based in the capital, Moscow), the North-Western Federal Okrug (St Petersburg), the Southern Federal Okrug (Rostovon-Don), the Volga Federal Okrug (Nizhnii Novgorod), the Urals Federal Okrug (Yekaterinburg), the Siberian Federal Okrug (Novosibirsk) and the Far Eastern Federal Okrug (Khabarovsk). An eighth Federal Okrug, the North Caucasus Federal Okrug, based in Pyatigorsk (in Stavropol Krai), was created in January 2010, by the subdivision of the Southern Federal Okrug. Additionally, the federal subjects are grouped into 11 economic areas. The republics each have their own governments and ministries; in many cases there
is also a republican president. Under the terms of the 1992 treaties, republics were granted far wider-reaching powers than the other federal units, specifically over the use of natural resources and land. The remaining federal units are governed by a local administration, the head or governor of which is the highest official in the territory, and a representative assembly. Governors are able to veto regional legislation, although their vetoes may be overruled by a two-thirds’ parliamentary majority. The federal legislature, which created the post of governor in August 1991, intended that the official be elected by popular vote, but President Boris Yeltsin secured an agreement that governors be appointed. In many regions conflict subsequently arose between the
