Russia Politics and Law

Parties

The party system was widely fanned out until 2001; After the new law on political parties was passed, the number of registered parties fell sharply. The politically most influential parties are “United Russia” (ER, in 2002 emerged from the parties “Unity” [Russian Jedinstwo] and Fatherland – All Russia [OWR]), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF; constituted in 1993 as the largest successor organization to the CPSU), the radical nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR, founded in 1988) and »Gerechtes Russland« (SR, 2006 emerged from the Kremlin-affiliated parties »Heimat« [Rodina in Russian], »Russian Pensioners’ Party« and »Russian Party of Life«).

Military

The total strength of the army (military service since 2008 12 months) is around 771,000 men. Around 489,000 men are available at paramilitary units, including 170,000 men of the “Inner Troops” (subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior) and 160,000 men of the border troops (directly subordinate to the President). In March 2016, the announcement was made that the “Inner Troops” would be grouped with special police units in a National Guard with a strength of around 210,000 men.

The army (about 230,000 men) is divided into four military districts and essentially comprises a total of one armored division, three armored, 33 motorized rifle brigades and eight artillery brigades; there are also two motorized rifle divisions, airborne troops and nine surface-to-surface missile brigades. The Navy (around 130,000 soldiers) is divided into four fleets: Pacific, Northern, Baltic and Black Sea. The air force has around 140,000 soldiers. – The strategic armed forces (around 80,000 men) are subdivided into navy, strategic nuclear forces and space forces. The military reform announced at the end of 2008 includes, among other things. perfecting the organization of the armed forces,

The plans announced by the USA at the beginning of 2007 to also station appropriate systems for its missile defense project NMD in Poland, the Czech Republic and in a country in the Caucasus met with fierce criticism in Russia, as protection against Russian strategic missiles is also suspected. Russia therefore announced at the beginning of February 2007 that it would comprehensively modernize its missile defense and change its military doctrine accordingly.

In 1994 Russia joined NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program, but was unable to enforce a special status. In May 1997, Russia put its relationship with NATO on a contractual basis by signing the “Fundamental Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security”. The permanent Joint NATO-Russia Council, which has existed since then, was replaced in 2002 by the NATO-Russia Council, which reorganized the cooperation between the NATO member states and Russia and since then has enabled so-called consultations “on twenty” and joint decisions on numerous issues.

Administration

According to Allcitycodes, the Russian Federation includes 83 federal subjects: 21 republics, 9 regions (Krai), 46 areas (oblast), 2 federal cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg) as well as 1 autonomous area (Avtonomnaja oblast) and 4 autonomous counties (Avtonomny okrug); there is no right of secession. The incorporation of federal subjects number 84 (Republic of Crimea) and number 85 (city of Sevastopol) is not internationally recognized.

Federal subjects were given federal districts in May 2000 by a presidential decree and subsequent legislative initiatives 7 (from January 2010 8, after the annexation of Crimea from March 2014 9, after the incorporation of Crimea into the southern federal district from 2016 again 8) federal districts (Federalny okrug), the boundaries of which correspond to the military districts. The republics passed their own constitutions in 1992–95 and established different systems of government with a presidential orientation. The other federal subjects have regulated their administrative structure by statute; Here, too, a strong position of the heads of administration is characteristic. Since 2005, the regional heads of administration are no longer elected, but appointed by the president. Their activities are monitored by authorized representatives of the President. Overall, the relationships between the central government and the individual federal subjects are very different; the areas of responsibility are often delimited on the basis of bilateral agreements. In the 1990s, many federal subjects, especially those with ethnic and economic strengths, negotiated separate treaties with the federal government that grant them specific political, economic or cultural rights.

The subjects of the federation have wide leeway when it comes to structuring self-government at the local level (e.g. rural districts [Rajon], urban districts). The law on local self-government of August 28, 1995 provides for a directly elected decision-making body and a head of administration (elected by the population or by the decision-making body) for each local authority. However, the regulations of the federal subjects often do not correspond to the state requirements and are often the subject of judicial review proceedings before the constitutional court. The development of coordinated, functional municipal administrative structures has not yet been completed.

Administrative division in Russia