Each of the 89 federal subjects of Russia (including two annexed in 2014 and four more in 2022, that are not recognized by the international community) – consisting of 24 republics, 48 oblasts, nine krais, three federal cities, four autonomous okrugs, and one autonomous oblast – sends two senators to the Council, for a total membership of 178 Senators. In addition, the Constitution also provides for senators from the Russian Federation, which can be no more than 30 (up to seven of them for life), as well as (optionally) former presidents as life senators (as of 2020[update] there are no such life senators).
The council holds its sessions within the Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow, the former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroy), with further offices and committee rooms located on Novy Arbat Street. The two houses of the Federal Assembly are physically separated, with the State Duma residing in another part of Moscow on Okhotny Ryad Street. Sessions of the Federation Council take place in Moscow from 25 January to 15 July and from 16 September to 31 December. Sessions are open to the public, although the location of sessions can change if the Federation Council so desires, and secure closed sessions may be convoked.
The modern history of the Federation Council begins during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis that pitted President Boris Yeltsin's unpopular neoliberal and governmental structure reforms against the increasingly radical Congress of People's Deputies, the nation's legislature. Throughout the year, the congress had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Yeltsin and his cabinet's management of the floundering Russian economy, as well as with its plans for a new constitution for the Russian Federation to replace the Soviet-era 1978 Russian SFSRConstitution still in effect. Amidst the increasingly tense crisis, on 21 September, Yeltsin issued Presidential Decree No.1400. The decree effectively scrapped constitutional reform then presently in discussion, as well as legally dissolving the Congress of People's Deputies, ordering its replacement with an entirely new federal legislative structure, and granting the president increased executive powers. Following a war of words and acts of defiance from both sides, President Yeltsin abruptly ended the governmental power struggle by ordering the Russian army to bombard and storm the White House of Russia, the legislative building, between 2–4 October 1993.
Following the crushing of the Congress of People's Deputies and other members of the federal and territorial governments who had initially supported what he viewed as a rebellious legislature, Yeltsin presented a new constitution. With the events of 1993 very much in mind, Yeltsin drafted a constitution that called for increased executive branch powers in prime ministerial appointments, veto overrides, and a stronger executive security council. The constitution also called for the creation of a bicameral Federal Assembly, consisting of a State Duma and a Federation Council. Although Yeltsin had created a Federation Council in July 1993 to gather regional representatives (except Chechnya) to support an earlier draft of a replacement constitution to the 1978 document, this Federation Council was to become a permanent part of the legislature.
The procedure of formation of the Federation Council through elections held according to the majority system was defined by Presidential Decrees No. 1626 from 11 October 1993 "On Elections to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation" and No. 1846 from 6 November 1993 "On Specification to the Resolution on Elections of Deputies to the State Duma and Resolution on Elections of Deputies to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 1993".
Similar to the United States Senate, the Federation Council would consist of two representatives from each of Russia's federal subjects. Unlike the State Duma, which consisted of hundreds of districts nationwide, the Federation Council was to act as more or less the voice of Russia's federated subdivisions. Early debate on its creation centered on whether or not the Federation Council should be elected at all. To solve some problems on the Council's first scheduled election in December, Yeltsin issued Presidential Decree No. 1628 on 11 October, stipulating that candidates for the first elections needed at least two percent, or 25,000 signatures—whichever was highest—of their oblast, republic, krai, autonomous okrug, or federal city population. This helped previous territorial elites remain within national politics. The decree also stipulated a single term of two years before new elections in 1995.
President Boris Yeltsin was instrumental in the creation of the Federation Council in 1993.
The Council's first elections were held on 12 December 1993, simultaneously with State Duma elections and a referendum on the new Constitution of the Russian Federation. With the constitution now in effect after its successful passage, elections for the Council were to be franchised solely to territorial authorities, with one senator elected from the subject's legislature, and the other by the subject's executive branch. This was later codified in 1995 when the Council's first term expired.
The constitution, however, did not specify how senators were to be elected. By 1995, using this constitutional anomaly, regional executives could sit ex officio in both their regional executive posts and within the Federation Council. While the State Duma did much of the serious debates on Russian policy during this time, the Council became a lobby for regional interests, competing for federal attention.
The ascension of President Vladimir Putin following Yeltsin's resignation on 31 December 1999 brought many new changes to the Federation Council. As part of his top political goals in his first months of office in 2000, Putin proposed a reform law to change the makeup of the Council, which would allow regional governors to designate councillors but not sit on the Council themselves, freeing it from what Putin saw as blatant personal cronyism on the part of regional leaders. The Council furiously resisted Putin's plan, conscious that their role in federal politics, their very ability to enjoy the fruits of living within Moscow, and their parliamentary immunity would end. With the State Duma threatening to override a Council veto, and Putin's threats to open federal criminal investigations on regional governors, the Council backed down and grudgingly supported the law in July 2000. In their place, a wave of new Kremlin-friendly senators took the vacated seats, complete with the full backing of Putin. The last of these dual senator-governors were rotated out of office in early 2002.
Following the Beslan school hostage crisis in September 2004, President Putin initiated a radical shakeup of the federal system, proposing that the direct elections of regional governors be replaced by appointments from the president himself. These appointments could later be confirmed or rejected by the regional legislatures. The move further placed more control over the Council by the executive branch due to laws that stipulate that regional executives have a say in choosing delegates to the Federation Council.
Since 2000, the Federation Council has largely remained a stable body. However, critics have charged that Putin's tactics in reforming the Council were blatantly undemocratic and anti-federal, arguing that the reforms created a rubber stamp body for the executive branch and the ruling United Russia party, similar to what the Soviet of Nationalities was during the Soviet period.
As set in Article 101 of the Russian Constitution, the Federation Council "shall elect among its deputies the chairman of the Council." Some of the Chairman's official duties include presiding over sessions, formulating and introducing draft agendas, issuing orders and consulting with the Council's various committees, acting as the Council's official representative in the Federal Assembly, and signing resolutions to be passed forth to the president or the State Duma.
Senators can retain membership in their respective parties. However, they are asked not to bring party factionalism to the floor itself. Since the reforms of 2000, the Council has enjoyed a significantly close relationship with the Kremlin, helping to pass key legislation the Kremlin desires easily.
According to Article 98, all the members of the Council enjoy immunity from arrest, detainment, and searches. In 2007 the law on the Federation Council was amended, and now a senator must have resided for at least ten years in the territory he is representing.
The Federal Law defines the status of members of the Federation Council: "On Status of Members of the Council of Federation and Status of Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation".
Unlike the State Duma, with its division of parties and leaders, in 2002 parliamentary groups were forbidden following Mironov's election to the chairmanship and the parliamentary procedures to disband all political factions though the members are affiliated with some major Russian political parties.
Elections
Unlike the State Duma and the provincial legislatures throughout Russia, the Council is not directly elected but instead chosen by territorial politicians, resembling in some respects the structure of the U.S. Senate before the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The only exclusion was the first Federation council (1994–1996), which was elected on 12 December 1993.
According to Article95, the Council comprises representatives of each Russian federal subject—two from each. The provincial legislature elects one senator, and the other is nominated by the provincial governor and confirmed by the legislature. Before 2000, all provincial governors and heads of provincial legislatures were also members of the Council. Upon President Putin's ascension to the Russian presidency, this practice was discontinued under pressure from the Kremlin, forbidding governors to hold dual posts.
Terms to the Council are also not nationally fixed, due to the continuing territorial nature of the chamber. Terms instead are determined according to the regional bodies they represent.
In 2001–2004 regional bodies were able to recall their senator by the same procedure by which they appointed them. Such recalls once occurred quite often. But a new law passed in December 2004 required that the chairman of the Federation Council must first initiate a recall procedure. The procedure has not been implemented since.
On 1 January 2013, the latest Law on the Procedure to Form the Federation Council entered into force: According to the Law, the Federation Council consists of two delegates from each Russian constituent component, one representing the given region's legislative assembly and the other representing the provincial executive authorities. There will be two different election procedures, one for each member type. (Federal Law No. 229, art. 1.1.) Candidates for the Senator from a constituent component's legislature must be a member of the component region's legislative assembly. Candidates are nominated as a candidate by the chairman of the regional legislative assembly, by one party faction represented in the assembly, or by at least one-fifth of the assembly members. Then, the regional legislative assembly will vote for one of the nominated candidates.[4]
An amendment to the law was approved in July 2014, which add 17 more senators who are nominated by the president.
The regional executive authority representative, the second type of delegate to the Federation Council, is appointed by the Governor of that constituent component (or the Head of that autonomous republic). The delegate is selected from among three people named by the candidates for the office of governor/head of the concerned region. The winner of the gubernatorial/republican leadership election appoints one of the three delegates previously named for appointment to the Council as a senator of said region.[4]
Powers
The Federation Council is viewed as a more formal chamber of the Federal Assembly. Because of its federalist design and its voting franchise strictly limited to provincial elites, the Council is viewed as less volatile to radical changes.
The Council is charged with cooperating with the State Duma in completing and voting on draft laws. Federal laws concerning budgets, customs regulations, credit monitoring, and the ratification of international treaties are to be considered by the Council after they have been adopted from the State Duma, where most legislation is introduced.
Special powers that are accorded only to senators of the Federation Council are:
Approval of changes in borders between the subjects of the Russian Federation;
Appointment of Deputy Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounting Chamber.
For laws to pass the Federation Council, a vote of more than half of its 178 senators is required. When considering federal constitutional laws, three-fourths of the Council's votes are required for passage. If the Council vetoes a law passed by the State Duma, the two chambers are mandated to form a Conciliation Committee in order to form a compromise document, on which both houses would have to vote again. A two-thirds majority of Duma deputies can overcome the Federation Council's veto.
Committees
Committees form a key component of the structure of the Council. Sixteen committees and seven commissions exist for senators to consider legislation and policy on several issues ranging from foreign affairs, federal affairs, and youth and sports. Leadership in these committees are determined by the Council Chairman, who remains in correspondence with their findings. These committees include:
U.S. Congress delegation in Russia's Federation Council, July 3, 2018
Committee on Constitutional Legislation
Committee on Judicial and Legal Affairs
Committee on Defence and Security
Budgetary Committee
Committee on Financial Markets and Currency Circulation
Foreign Affairs Committee
Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States
Committee on Federal Affairs and Regional Policies
Committee on Local Government
Social Policy Committee
Committee on Economic Policy, Business and Ownership
Industrial Policy Committee
Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
Committee on Food and Agricultural Policies
Committee for Science, Culture, Education, Public Health and Ecology
Committee on Northern Territories and Indigenous Minorities
Commission on Standing Orders and Parliamentary Performance Organisation
Commission for the Council of Federation's Performance Maintenance Monitoring
Commission on Ways and Means of the Council of Federation's Constitutional Powers Implementation
Commission for Interaction with the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation
The politics of Russia take place in the framework of the federal semi-presidential republic of Russia. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-party system with executive power exercised by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President with the parliament's approval. Legislative power is vested in the two houses of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, while the President and the government issue numerous legally binding by-laws. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia has seen serious challenges in its efforts to forge a political system to follow nearly seventy-five years of Soviet governance. For instance, leading figures in the legislative and executive branches have put forth opposing views of Russia's political direction and the governmental instruments that should be used to follow it. That conflict reached a climax in September and October 1993, when President Boris Yeltsin used military force to dissolve the parliament and called for new legislative elections. This event marked the end of Russia's first constitutional period, which was defined by the much-amended constitution adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1978. A new constitution, creating a strong presidency, was approved by referendum in December 1993.
The president of the Russian Federation is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the highest office in Russia.
The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking political office in Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 following the introduction of a new constitution.
On the federal level, Russia elects a president as head of state and a parliament, one of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The president is elected for, at most, two consecutive six-year terms by the people. The Federal Assembly has two chambers. The State Duma has 450 members, elected for five-year terms. The Federation Council is not directly elected; each of the 85 federal subjects of Russia sends 2 delegates to the Federal Council, for a total of 170 members.
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko is a social-liberal political party in Russia. The party consequently participated in the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of all eight convocations. Until 2003, Yabloko was represented by a faction in the State Duma and later until 2007 by individual deputies. In March 2002, the party became a full member of the Liberal International, and since November 1998, it had been in observer status. The founder of the party Grigory Yavlinsky is an honorary vice-president of the Liberal International and winner of its Prize for Freedom. Since 2006, Yabloko has been a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). As of 2021, the party was represented by factions in 4 regional parliaments of the Russian Federation. In addition, members of the party were deputies of 13 administrative centers of the subjects of the Russian Federation, 183 representatives of the party were municipal deputies in Moscow, 84 in Saint Petersburg.
The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of government. The current Constitution is the second most long-lived in the history of Russia, behind the Constitution of 1936.
In September and October 1993, a constitutional crisis arose in the Russian Federation from a conflict between President Boris Yeltsin and Russia's parliament. President Yeltsin performed a self-coup, dissolving parliament and instituting a presidential rule by decree system. The crisis ended with Yeltsin using military force to attack Moscow's House of Soviets and arrest the lawmakers. In Russia, the events are known as the October Coup or Black October.
The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.
The Federal Assembly is the national legislature of the Russian Federation. The upper house is the Federation Council, and the lower house is the State Duma. The assembly was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993, replacing the former Supreme Soviet of Russia. It is located in Moscow.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is a high court within the judiciary of Russia which is empowered to rule on whether certain laws or presidential decrees are in fact contrary to the Constitution of Russia. Its objective is only to protect the Constitution and deal with a few kinds of disputes where it has original jurisdiction, whereas the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
The government of Russia is the federal executive body of state power of the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal constitutional law "On the Government of the Russian Federation". The Apparatus of the Government of Russia is a governmental body which administrates the activities of the government.
The acting president of the Russian Federation is a temporary post provided by the Constitution of Russia. The acting president is a person who fulfils the duties of the president of the Russian Federation when cases of incapacity and vacancy occur. However, the person who takes office is more limited in power as the acting president can not dissolve the State Duma, call a referendum, or propose constitutional amendments. This post is held by the prime minister of Russia.
The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast is the standing regional legislative parliament of the government of Tomsk Oblast, a single-chamber body of 42 deputies.
The amendments of 2008, which were proposed in November 2008 and came into force on 31 December 2008, were the first substantial amendments to the Constitution of Russia of 1993. The amendments extended the terms of the President of Russia and the State Duma from four to six and five years.
The Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, also called Speaker (спикер), is the presiding officer of the Upper house of the Russian parliament. It is the third highest position, after the President and the Prime Minister, in the government of Russia. In the case of incapacity of the President and Prime Minister, the chairman of the Federation Council becomes Acting President of Russia.
The presidency of Boris Yeltsin began with his first inauguration on 10 July 1991, and ended on 31 December 1999 when he announced his resignation. A referendum held on 17 March 1991 approved the creation of the post of president of Russia; Yeltsin was elected Russia's first president in a presidential election held on 12 June 1991.
The Sakhalin Oblast Duma is the regional parliament of Sakhalin Oblast, a federal subject of Russia. Together with the executive and judicial branches, the oblast's legislative assembly is vested with power to control the oblast's own affairs with moderate levels of autonomy from Moscow. A total of 28 deputies are elected for five-year terms. 18 deputies are elected by single-member constituencies and 10 deputies are elected in party lists.
The amendments of 2020, which were proposed in January 2020, are the second substantial amendments to the Constitution of Russia of 1993. To introduce these amendments, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, held a national vote. They were approved on 1 July by a popular vote.
State of emergency in Russia is a special legal regime that is introduced in the country or its regions to protect against an internal threat. The state of emergency involves restricting the rights and freedoms of citizens and legal entities, as well as imposing additional duties on them. In this case, the state of emergency, which is introduced in the case of violent unrest or clash, coup attempt, natural disaster, or man-made disaster, should be distinguished from the martial law regime that is introduced in the event of external aggression.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Popov, is a Russian politician, who was a member of the Federation Council of Omsk Oblast on legislative authority between 29 September 2016 and February 2018.
References
McFaul, Michael. Russia's Unfinished Revolution. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.
Herspring, Dale R. Putin's Russia. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2005.
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