Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN (since 12 June
1991)
head of government: Premier Yevgeniy Maksimovich PRIMAKOV (since 11
September 1998), First Deputy Premiers Yuriy Dmitriyevich MASLYUKOV
(since 11 September 1998) and Vadim Anatol'yevich GUSTOV (since 11
September 1998); Deputy Premiers Vladimir Broisovich BULGAK (since
11 September 1998), Gennadiy Vasil'yevich KULIK (since 11 September
1998), and Valentin Ivanovna MATVIYENKO (since 11 September 1998)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of
the premier and his deputies, ministers, and other agency heads; all
are appointed by the president
note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides
staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential
decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a
Security Council also reports directly to the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term;
election last held 16 June 1996 with runoff election on 3 July 1996
(next to be held NA June 2000); note—no vice president; if the
president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill
health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the
premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election
is held, which must be within three months; premier and deputy
premiers appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
election results: Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN elected president;
percent of vote in runoff—YEL'TSIN 54%, Gennadiy Andreyevich
ZYUGANOV 40%
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federal'noye
Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii
(178 seats, filled ex-officio by the top executive and legislative
officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units—oblasts,
krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the federal
cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg; members serve four-year terms)
and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats, half elected
in single-member districts and half elected from national party
lists; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year
terms)
elections: State Duma—last held 17 December 1995 (next to be held NA
December 1999)
election results: State Duma—percent of vote received by parties
clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of
the 225 party list seats—Communist Party of the Russian Federation
22.3%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 11.2%, Our Home Is Russia
10.1%, Yabloko Bloc 6.9%; seats by party—Communist Party of the
Russian Federation 157, independents 78, Our Home Is Russia 55,
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 51, Yabloko Bloc 45, Agrarian
Party of Russia 20, Russia's Democratic Choice 9, Power To the
People 9, Congress of Russian Communities 5, Forward, Russia! 3,
Women of Russia 3, other parties 15
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, judges are appointed for
life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the
president; Supreme Court, judges are appointed for life by the
Federation Council on the recommendation of the president; Superior
Court of Arbitration, judges are appointed for life by the
Federation Council on the recommendation of the president
Political parties and leaders:
YAVLINSKIY]; Pravoye Delo (Just Cause), a coalition of reformist,
Borisovich CHUBAYS, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV, Sergey Vladlenovich
KIRIYENKO]
anti-market and/or ultranationalist: Communist Party of the Russian
BARKASHOV]
note: some 150 political parties, blocs, and movements registered
with the Justice Ministry as of the 19 December 1998 deadline to be
eligible to participate in the scheduled December 1999 Duma
elections; in 1995, 43 political organizations qualified to run
slates of candidates on the Duma party list ballot; among the
parties not listed above but holding seats in the Duma were Russia's
Democratic Choice, Power To the People, Congress of Russian
Communities, Forward, Russia!, and Women of Russia
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: APEC, BIS, BSEC, CBSS,
CCC, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat,
Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO,
MONUA, MTCR, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UN
Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR,
UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNOMIG, UNOMSIL, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant), ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Yuliy Mikhaylovich VORONTSOV chancery: 2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 consulate(s) general: New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador James F. COLLINS embassy: Novinskiy Bul'var 19/23, Moscow mailing address: APO AE 09721 consulate(s) general: St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg