Politics of Russia

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Politics of the Russian Federation Государственный строй Российской Федерации
Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation
Constitution	Constitution of Russia
Legislative branch
Name	Federal Assembly
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Moscow Kremlin
Upper house
Name	Federation Council
Presiding officer	Valentina Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council
Appointer	Indirect elections
Lower house
Name	State Duma
Presiding officer	Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma
Executive branch
Head of state
Title	President
Currently	Vladimir Putin
Appointer	Direct popular vote
Head of government
Title	Prime Minister
Currently	Mikhail Mishustin
Appointer	President
Cabinet
Name	Government of Russia
Current cabinet	Mikhail Mishustin's Second Cabinet
Leader	Prime Minister
Appointer	President
Headquarters	Moscow
Ministries	32
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of Russia
Constitutional Court
Chief judge	Valery Zorkin
Supreme Court
Chief judge	Irina Podnosova

Politics of Russia
Law Constitution Russian Criminal Code Tax Code Mental Health Law
Presidency President Vladimir Putin (list) Presidential Administration Security Council State Council
Executive Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (list) Government Cabinet (57th)
Legislature Federal Assembly Federation Council Members Chairwoman: Valentina Matviyenko State Duma Members (8th convocation) Chairman: Vyacheslav Volodin
Judiciary Constitutional Court Supreme Court Prosecutor General Legal system Law enforcement
Elections Central Election Commission Presidential elections Legislative elections Gubernatorial elections Regional elections Local elections Electoral geography Political parties
Federalism Federal subjects Heads of federal subjects Regional parliaments Local government
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Sergey Lavrov Diplomatic missions of / in Russia Nationality law Passports Visa requirements Visa policy (history) Russia and the United Nations United Nations Security Council P5 Union State EAEU CIS SCO BRICS APEC EAS G20 United States Finland China India Ukraine EU NATO Arctic policy
Related topics Administrative divisions Armed forces Civic Chamber Accounts Chamber Opposition Human rights Political abuse of psychiatry
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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 (see Russian constitutional crisis of 1993). 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.

With a new constitution and a new parliament representing diverse parties and factions, Russia's political structure subsequently showed signs of stabilization. As the transition period extended into the mid-1990s, the power of the national government continued to wane as Russia's regions gained political and economic concessions from Moscow. However, with the ascent of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, reforms to strengthen federal control were implemented, rolling back regional power gains, including in the 22 Republics. He has later come to dominate Russia's political system, starting an economic reform and strong foreign involvement, having now become the longest Russian leader in power after Stalin. His policies are called Putinism.^[1][2]