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CONSTITUTION |

[The Guarantor of the Constitution / Constitution] |

The Constitution of the Russian Federation
Adopted at National Voting on December 12, 1993

Chapter 3. The Federal Structure

Article 65

1. The Russian Federation includes the following subjects of the Russian Federation:

the Republic of Adygeya (Adygeya), the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Daghestan, the Republic of Ingushetia, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic, the Republic of Karelia, the Komi Republic, the Republic of Marii El, the Republic of Mordovia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, the Republic of Tatarstan (Tatarstan), the Republic of Tuva, the Udmurtian Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, the Chechen Republic, the Chuvash Republic - Chuvashia;

the Altai Territory, the Krasnodar Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Primorie Territory, the Stavropol Territory, the Khabarovsk Territory;

the Amur Region, the Archangel Region, the Astrakhan Region, the Belgorod Region, the Bryansk Region, the Vladimir Region, the Volgograd Region, the Vologda Region, the Voronezh Region, the Ivanovo Region, the Irkutsk Region, the Kaliningrad Region, the Kaluga Region, the Kamchatka Region, the Kemerovo Region, the Kirov Region, the Kostroma Region, the Kurgan Region, the Kursk Region, the Leningrad Region, the Lipetsk Region, the Magadan Region, the Moscow Region, the Murmansk Region, the Nizhni Novgorod Region, the Novgorod Region, the Novosibirsk Region, the Omsk Region, the Orenburg Region, the Orel Region, the Penza Region, the Perm Region, the Pskov Region, the Rostov Region, the Ryazan Region, the Samara Region, the Saratov Region, the Sakhalin Region, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Smolensk Region, the Tambov Region, the Tver Region, the Tomsk Region, the Tula Region, the Tyumen Region, the Ulyanovsk Region, the Chelyabinsk Region, the Chita Region, the Yaroslavl Region;

Moscow, St. Petersburg - cities of federal importance;

the Jewish Autonomous Region;

the Aginsk Buryat Autonomous Area, the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area, the Koryak Autonomous Area, the Nenets Autonomous Area, the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Area, the Ust-Ordyn Buryat Autonomous Area, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, the Chukotka Autonomous Area, the Evenki Autonomous Area, the Yamalo-Nents Autonomous Area.

2. The admission to the Russian Federation and the creation in it of a new subject shall be carried out according to the rules established by the federal constitutional law.

Article 66

1. The status of a Republic shall be determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Constitution of the Republic.

2. The status of a territory, region, city of federal importance, autonomous region and autonomous area shall be determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Charter of the territory, region, city of federal importance, autonomous region or autonomous area, adopted by the legislative (representative) body of the corresponding subject of the Russian Federation.

3. Upon the proposal of the legislative and executive bodies of the autonomous region or autonomous area a federal law on autonomous region or autonomous area may be adopted.

4. The relations between the autonomous area within a territory or region may be regulated by the federal law or a treaty between the bodies of state authority of the autonomous area and, accordingly, the bodies of state authority of the territory or region.

5. The status of a subject of the Russian Federation may be changed upon mutual agreement of the Russian Federation and the subject of the Russian Federation and according to the federal constitutional law.

Article 67

1. The territory of the Russian Federation shall include the territories of its subjects, inland waters and territorial sea, and the air space over them.

2. The Russian Federation shall possess sovereign rights and exercise the jurisdiction on the continental shelf and in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation according to the rules fixed by the federal law and the norms of international law.

3. The borders between the subjects of the Russian Federation may be changed upon their mutual consent.

Article 68

1. The Russian language shall be a state language on the whole territory of the Russian Federation.

2. The Republics shall have the right to establish their own state languages. In the bodies of state authority and local self-government, state institutions of the Republics they shall be used together with the state language of the Russian Federation.

3. The Russian Federation shall guarantee to all of its peoples the right to preserve their native language and to create conditions for its study and development.

Article 69

The Russian Federation shall guarantee the rights of the indigenous small peoples according to the universally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties and agreements of the Russian Federation.

Article 70

1. The state flag, coat of arms and anthem of the Russian Federation, their description and rules of official use shall be established by the federal constitutional law.

The capital of the Russian Federation is the city of Moscow. The status of the capital shall be determined by the federal law.

Article 71

The jurisdiction of the Russian Federation includes:

1. adoption and amending of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws, control over their observance;
2. federal structure and the territory of the Russian Federation;
3. regulation and protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen; citizenship in the Russian Federation, regulation and protection of the rights of national minorities;
4. establishment of the system of federal bodies of legislative, executive and judicial authority, the rules of their organization and activities, formation of federal bodies of state authority;
5. federal state property and its management;
6. establishment of the principles of federal policy and federal programmes in the sphere of state, economic, ecological, social, cultural and national development of the Russian Federation;
7. establishment of legal groups for a single market; financial, currency, credit, and customs regulation, money issue, the principles of pricing policy; federal economic services, including federal banks;
8. federal budget, federal taxes and dues, federal funds of regional development;
9. federal power systems, nuclear power-engineering, fission materials, federal transport, railways, information and communication, outer space activities;
10. foreign policy and international relations of the Russian Federation, international treaties and agreements of the Russian Federation, issues of war and peace;
11. foreign economic relations of the Russian Federation;
12. defence and security; military production; determination of rules of selling and purchasing weapons, ammunition, military equipment and other military property; production of poisonous substances, narcotic substances and rules of their use;
13. determination of the status and protection of the state border, territorial sea, air space, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the expenditures;
14. judicial system, procurator's office, criminal, criminal procedure and criminal-executive legislation, amnesty and pardoning , civil, civil procedure and arbitration procedure legislation, legal regulation of intellectual property;
15. federal law of conflict of laws;
16. meteorological service, standards, metric system, horometry accounting, geodesy and cartography, names of geographical units, official statistics and accounting;
17. state awards and honourary titles of the Russian Federation;
18. federal state service.

Article 72

1. The joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation includes:

1. providing for the correspondence of the constitutions and laws of the Republics, the charters and other normative legal acts of the territories, regions, cities of federal importance, autonomous regions or autonomous areas to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal laws;
2. protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen; protection of the rights of national minorities; ensuring the rule of law, law and order, public security, border zone regime;
3. issues of possession, use and disposal of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources;
4. delimitation of state property;
5. nature utilization, protection of the environment and ensuring ecological safety; specially protected natural territories, protection of historical and cultural monuments;
6. general issues of upbringing, education, science, culture, physical culture and sports;
7. coordination of issues of health care; protection of the family, maternity, paternity and childhood; social protection, including social security;
8. carrying out measures against catastrophes, natural calamities, epidemics, elimination of their aftermath;
9. establishment of common principles of taxation and dues in the Russian Federation;
10. administrative, administrative procedure, labour, family, housing, land, water, and forest legislation; legislation on subsoil and environmental protection
11. personnel of the judicial and law enforcement agencies; the Bar, notaryship;
12. protection of traditional living habitat and of traditional way of life of small ethnic communities;
13. establishment of common principles of organization of the system of bodies of state authority and local self-government;
14. coordination of international and foreign economic relations of the subjects of the Russian Federation, fulfillment of international treaties and agreements of the Russian Federation.

2. Provisions of this Article shall be equally valid for the Republics, territories, regions, cities of federal importance, autonomous regions or autonomous areas.

Article 73

Outside the limits of authority of the Russian Federation and the powers of the Russian Federation on issues under joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation, the subjects of the Russian Federation shall possess full state power.

Article 74

1. In the territory of the Russian Federation it shall not be allowed to establish customs borders, dues or any other barriers for a free flow of goods, services and financial resources.

2. Limitations on the transfer of goods and services may be introduced according to the federal law, if it is necessary to ensure security, protect the life and health of people, protect nature and cultural values.

Article 75

1. The monetary unit in the Russian Federation shall be the rouble. Money issue shall be carried out exclusively by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Introduction and issue of other currencies in Russia shall not be allowed.

2. The protection and ensuring the stability of the rouble shall be the major task of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which it shall fulfil independently of the other bodies of state authority.

3. The system of taxes paid to the federal budget and the general principles of taxation and dues in the Russian Federation shall be fixed by the federal law.

4. State loans shall be issued according to the rules fixed by the federal law and shall be floated on a voluntary basis.

Article 76

1. On the issues under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation federal constitutional laws and federal laws shall be adopted and have direct action in the whole territory of the Russian Federation.

2. On the issues under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and subjects of the Russian Federation federal laws shall issued and laws and other normative acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation shall be adopted according to them.

3. Federal laws may not contradict the federal constitutional laws.

4. Outside the limits of authority of the Russian Federation, of the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation, the Republics, territories, regions, cities of federal importance, autonomous regions or autonomous areas shall exercise their own legal regulation, including the adoption of laws and other normative acts.

5. The laws and other legislative acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation may not contradict the federal laws adopted according to the first and second parts of this Article. In case of a contradiction between a federal law and an act issued in the Russian Federation the federal law shall be applied.

6. In case of a contradiction between a federal law and a normative act of a subject of the Russian Federation adopted according to the fourth part of this Article, the normative legal act of the subject of the Russian Federation shall be applied.

Article 77

1. The system of bodies of state authority of the Republics, territories, regions, cities of federal importance, autonomous regions or autonomous areas shall be established by the subjects of the Russian Federation independently and according to the principles of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the general principles of the organization of representative and executive bodies of state authority fixed by federal law.

2. Within the limits of jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the powers of the Russian Federation on the issue under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation the federal bodies of executive authority and the bodies of executive authority of the subjects of the Russian Federation shall make up a single system of executive power of the Russian Federation.

Article 78

1. The federal bodies of executive power in order to exercise their powers may create their own territorial organs and appoint corresponding officials.

2. The federal bodies of executive power by agreement with the bodies of executive power of the subjects of the Russian Federation may transfer to them the fulfillment of a part of their powers, if it does not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal laws.

3. The bodies of executive power of the subjects of the Russian Federation by agreement with the federal bodies of executive authority may transfer to them the fulfillment of a part of their powers.

4. The President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation shall ensure, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the implementation of the powers of the federal state authority in the whole territory of the Russian Federation.

Article 79

The Russian Federation may participate in interstate associations and transfer to them part of its powers according to international treaties and agreements, if this does not involve the limitation of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen and does not contradict the principles of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation.

[More...]

Contents

First Section |  |
Chapter 1. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System | (articles | 1-16)
Chapter 2. Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen | (articles | 17-64)
Chapter 3. The Federal Structure | (articles | 65-79)
Chapter 4. The President of the Russian Federation | (articles | 80-93)
Chapter 5. The Federal Assembly | (articles | 94-109)
Chapter 6. The Government of the Russian Federation | (articles | 110-117)
Chapter 7. Judicial Power | (articles | 118-129)
Chapter 8. Local Self-government | (articles | 130-133)
Chapter 9. Constitutional Amendments and Review of the Constitution | (articles | 134-137)
Second Section. Concluding and Transitional Provisions |

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