ABSTRACT
According to its Constitution, the Russian Federation is a democratic, federative, multi-ethnic state, in which state power is divided between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The President 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. In March 2014 Russia annexed two territories internationally recognized as
constituting parts of Ukraine-the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City-bringing the de facto membership of the Federation to 85 territories. 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 2000s, as a number of autonomous okrugs (districts) were merged into the larger territories of which they formed a part; between 2005 and 2008 the number of territories was reduced from 89 to 83. Including the two territories in Crimea, the 85 territories comprise 22 republics, nine krais (provinces), 46 oblasts (regions), three cities of federal status (Moscow, St Petersburg and Sevastopol), one autonomous oblast and four autonomous okrugs. 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. InMarch 2000 President Vladimir Putin grouped the federal subjects into seven Federal Okrugs (districts); an eighth Federal Okrug, the North Caucasus Federal Okrug, was created in January 2010, and a Crimean Federal Okrug, comprising the two territories on the peninsula, was formed following their annexation in 2014. Additionally, the federal subjects (excluding those in Crimea) are grouped into 11 economic areas. The republics each have their own governments and ministries; many also have a
republican head. Under the 1992 treaties, republics were granted wide-reaching powers, specifically over the use of natural resources and land. The other federal units are governed by a local administration, headed by a governor, and a representative assembly. Governors are able to veto regional legislation, but 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 executive and legislative bodies. In those cases where a vote of no confidence in the governor was approved by regional assemblies, elections were permitted. (This occurred in eight territories in April 1993.) Following President Yeltsin’s dissolution of the Russian legislature in September 1993, it was announced that all heads of the federal subjects would be appointed and dismissed by presidential decree. This ruling was relaxed in December 1995, when gubernatorial elections were held in 12 territories. From the late 1990s elected governors became the norm. In September 2004, however, President
governors of all federal subjects would be appointed by the federal authorities, subject to approval by regional legislatures. In 2012 legislation providing for the election of governors entered into effect: the first elections under this system took place in five territories in October of that year. However, in 2013 territories were permitted, alternatively, to allow their legislatures to elect a governor from a list of candidates presented by the federal authorities, should they so choose: a number of republics in theNorth Caucasus had opted for such a system by the end of that year. President Yeltsin strongly advocated decentralization within the Russian Feder-
ation. From 1995 the undertaking of bilateral treaties to delineate powers between the federal Government and the regional authorities became commonplace. Attempts to regulate the subsequent peripheral-central tensions in the governance of Russia took a variety of forms. In particular, the establishment of the Federal Okrugs, each of which was headed by a presidential appointee, was considered by many to be a device to ensure closer central supervision of regional activity. A series of presidential decrees in 2000-01 ruled that laws specific to certain regions were unconstitutional and must be amended; byApril 2002 some 28 of the 42 ‘power-sharing treaties’ signed between the regional and federal authorities had been annulled, and many of those that remained had been amended, in order to bring regional legislation into conformity with the federal norm. A new body, the State Council of the Russian Federation, comprising the heads of the federal subjects, was created by presidential decree in September 2000. The Council’s presidium is chaired by the Russian President, and its membership (which was expanded further in 2012-see below) is rotated approximately every six months. Since the Russian Constitution remained unchanged, the State Council’s functions were consultative, and participation in it was voluntary. According to its founding decree, the body was to advise the President mainly on issues concerning the relationship between the central administration and Russia’s regions.
