Constitution of Russia

The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Конститу́ция Росси́йской Федера́ции) 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. The text was drafted by the 1993 Constitutional Conference, which was attended by over 800 participants. Sergei Alexeyev, Sergey Shakhray, and sometimes Anatoly Sobchak are considered as the primary co-authors of the constitution. The text was inspired by Mikhail Speransky's constitutional project and the current French constitution. The USAID-funded lawyers also contributed to the development of the draft. It replaced the previous Soviet-era Constitution of 12 April 1978, of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (which had already been amended in April 1992 to reflect the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the sovereignty of the Russian Federation), following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. The constitution is divided into two sections. Overall it creates a system of crown-presidentialism (see Partlett 2022 for details), which affords vast power to the office of the president to dominate executive, legislative, and judicial power. There is no division. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System (Основы конституционного строя) Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen (Права и свободы человека и гражданина) The Federal Structure (Федеративное устройство) The President of the Russian Federation (Президент Российской Федерации) The Federal Assembly (Федеральное Собрание) The Government of the Russian Federation (Правительство Российской Федерации) Judicial Power and Procuracy (Судебная власть и прокуратура) Local Self-Government (Местное самоуправление) Constitutional Amendments and Review of the Constitution (Конституционные поправки и пересмотр Конституции) Concluding and Transitional Provisions Especially on human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Constitution provides for human rights and freedoms of citizens according to the universally recognised principles and norms of international law as well as to their listing in the Constitution.