Kremlin

President of Russia

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National Priorities:
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INSTITUTIONS |

State institutions

The term state institutions refers to the mechanisms of state power that the President uses to exercise his constitutional authority.

The imperative nature of the President’s actions in pursuing domestic and foreign policy comes through most fully in relations between the President and the Government.

The President works with two consultative bodies – the Security Council and the State Council. The President chairs these two councils.

The President is responsible for the general management of the Presidential Administration. The administration helps the President carry out his functions and fulfil his role as guarantor of the Constitution. But the administration is not an independent governmental body.

The system of presidential power includes the Presidential Representatives to the federal districts.

According to the Constitution, Russia is a democratic federative state based on rule of law and a republican form of government. State power in Russia is exercised by the President, the Federal Assembly, the Government and the courts.

One of the basic principles of constitutional government is the division of powers. In accordance with this principle, power must not be concentrated in the hands of one person or one institution, but must be divided among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power. The division of powers requires that there be a clear delineation of responsibilities and a system of checks and balances so that each branch of power can offset the others.

The President is at the summit of the system of state power. He ensures that all the state institutions are able to carry out their responsibilities and keeps watch over them to ensure that no institution can encroach on another’s prerogatives, attempt to usurp power in the country or take over another’s powers.

Each institution of state power is only partially responsible for enforcing the Constitution. Only the President has the responsibility of safeguarding the state system, the state’s sovereignty and integrity overall. This is the guarantee that the other state institutions and officials can exercise their powers in a normal constitutional fashion.

The imperative nature of the President’s action in pursuing domestic and foreign policy comes through most fully in relations between the President and the Government. The President works with two consultative bodies – the Security Council and the State Council. The President chairs these two councils.

The President forms his Presidential Administration. The administration helps the President carry out his functions and fulfil his role as guarantor of the Constitution. But the administration is not an independent governmental body. The system of presidential power includes the Presidential Representatives in the federal districts.

In exercising his constitutional powers, the President works with the legislative and judicial branches of power through his authorized representatives to the relevant governmental bodies. Illustrations of this working relationship include the President’s right to submit draft legislation, his responsibility for signing laws passed by the parliament and his requests to the Constitutional Court to examine whether federal and regional laws conform to the Constitution.

|  | The Federal Assembly
|  | The Government
|  | The Constitutional Court
|  | The Presidential Administration
|  | The Security Council
|  | The State Council

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