Kremlin

President of Russia

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National Priorities:
| Russia in the CIS
| Pension Reform
| The Nation`s Health

THE PRESIDENTIAL PROTOCOL |

| The traditions that lie at the basis of the contemporary Protocol of the President of the Russian Federation have deep roots that are closed connected to international protocol practice and which have been refined over several centuries.

The “ambassadorial ceremony” which stipulates the rules of conducting diplomatic talks and organising receptions were formed in Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was the responsibility of the Ambassadorial Department, which arranged accommodation for foreign ambassadors in Moscow, developed ceremonies for their entry into the city, organised talks in Kremlin chambers, audiences with the Tsar, ambassadors’ banquets with the Tsar etc.

Under Peter the Great, the decision of protocol issues was entrusted to the Board of foreign affairs which replaced the Ambassadorial Department. As the state machinery became more complicated and its functions more precise, in 1832 the Board was turned into the Expedition of ceremonial affairs under the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Expedition’s duties included holding state ceremonies, inviting the diplomatic corps to court and festivities, providing information and guarding embassies.

Thus, by the 20th century in Russia the formalisation of the rules of diplomatic protocol in Russia was essentially complete, based on the customs of international politeness.

During the Soviet period, issues of protocol were handled by the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Protocol practice of those times, which mainly corresponded to international standards, nevertheless had their special features. For example, the Soviet protocol hierarchy was headed by the General Secretary, followed by members of the Politburo, Politburo candidates, and secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, in alphabetical order.

Changes to this practice were made in May 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev was elected President of the Soviet Union and a protocol department was created in the USSR Presidential Affairs Department to organise receptions and service for the heads of foreign countries and governments. This department did not last very long – in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. However, by that time a Protocol Board was already functioning in the Russian President’s Administration. It began working in June 1991, when Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Federation.

After the Board was reorganised in January 1992, the first President of Russia approved documents necessary to systemise the work of protocol service. In 1996, amendments were made to the Main regulations of state protocol practice of the Russian Federation. The concept of state visits was formulated, and the procedure of protocol seniority was specified for holding official events in the Russian Federation.

In 1999, the Andreevsky and Alexandrovsky halls of the Great Kremlin Palace were opened after restoration, and became the place for holding ceremonial events with the participation of heads of state. On May 7 2000, in the Andreevsky, Georgievsky and Alexandrovsky halls of the Palace, the inauguration ceremony of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin was held.

|  | Head of Protocol of the President

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