Administrative divisions:
48 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik,
singular - respublika), 7 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov,
singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 7 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2
federal cities (goroda, 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, 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), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Sakha [Yakutiya]
(Yakutsk), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
autonomous okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'),
Khanty-Mansi, Koryak (Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Ust'-Orda
Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk,
Permskiy, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), Saint Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg)
autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
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 31 December 1999-6 May 2000, president since 7 May 2000)
head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5
March 2004); First Deputy Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV
(since 14 November 2005), Deputy Premiers Aleksandr Dmitriyevich
ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004) and Sergey Borisovich IVANOV (since 14
November 2005)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of
the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other
individuals; 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
(eligible for a second term); election last held 14 March 2004 (next
to be held 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 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
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 88 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 elected by
proportional representation from party lists winning at least 7% of
the vote; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve
four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held
in 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, SPS 2, other
7, independents 65, repeat election required 3; note - seats by
party as of 1 July 2006 - United Russia 309, CPRF 45, LDPR 35,
Motherland 29, People's Party 12, independents 18, vacant 2
Judicial branch:
Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Supreme Arbitration Court;
judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation
Council on the recommendation of the president
Political parties and leaders:
A Just Russia or JR [Sergey MIRONOV] (formed from the merger of
three small political parties: Rodina (Motherland), Pensioners
Party, and Party of Life); Communist Party of the Russian Federation
or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of
Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; People's Party
[Gennadiy GUDKOV]; Union of Right Forces or SPS [Nikita BELYKH];
United Russia or UR [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party
[Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]