Administrative divisions:
49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik,
singular - respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov,
singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2
federal cities (singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous oblast
(avtonomnaya oblast')
: oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan',
Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo,
Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy),
Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk,
Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk,
Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin
(Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk
(Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk,
Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'
: republics: Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan
(Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya
(Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Magas),
Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya (Elista),
Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk),
Khakasiya (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola),
Mordoviya (Saransk), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), North Ossetia
(Vladikavkaz), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
: federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), St. Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg)
: autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
: krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk,
Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
: autonomous okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'),
Evenk (Tura), Khanty-Mansi, Komi-Permyak (Kudymkar), Koryak
(Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Taymyr [Dolgano-Nenets] (Dudinka),
Ust'-Orda Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their
administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center
name following in parentheses)
Independence:
24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday:
Russia Day, 12 June (1990)
Constitution:
adopted 12 December 1993
Legal system:
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting
president since 31 December 1999, president since 7 May 2000)
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 14 March 2004 (next to be held NA March 2008);
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 appointed by the president with the approval
of the Duma
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of
the premier and his deputy, ministers, and selected other
individuals; all are appointed by the president
head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5
March 2004); Deputy Premier Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9
March 2004)
election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN reelected president;
percent of vote - Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN 71.2%, Nikolay
KHARITONOV 13.7%, other (no candidate above 5%) 15.1%
Legislative branch:
bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of the
Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats; as of July 2000,
members appointed 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 Saint Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the
State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; currently 225 seats
elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at
least 5% of the vote, and 225 seats from single-member
constituencies; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve
four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held
NA December 2007)
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 - United Russia 37.1%, CPRF 12.7%, LDPR
11.6%, Motherland 9.1%; seats by party - United Russia 222, CPRF 53,
LDPR 38, Motherland 37, People's Party 19, Yabloko 4, Union of
Rightist Forces 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election
required 3
Judicial branch:
Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Superior Court of Arbitration;
judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation
Council on the recommendation of the president
Political parties and leaders:
Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy
Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR
[Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Motherland Bloc (Rodina) [Dmitriy
ROGOZIN]; People's Party [Gennadiy RAYKOV]; Union of Rightist Forces
or SPS [Anatoliy Borisovich CHUBAYS, Yegor Timurovich GAYDAR, Irina
Mutsuovna KHAKAMADA, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV]; United Russia [Boris
Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich
YAVLINSKIY]