It is impossible to understand the role
and place of popular representation in modern Russia’s political
system without a comprehensive evaluation of the deep history
of national legislative institutions: from the Veche, the Boyar
Duma, the pre-revolution State Dumas and State Council,
to Soviet-era sovereignty of the people and modern forms
of parliamentary democracy.
The Veche, an assembly of all free
individuals, was the first form of direct popular participation
in state affairs. Chronicles mention Veche assemblies in every
ancient Russian princedom. Veche participants could discuss any issue affecting
the state, but most frequently took decisions on inviting princes
to rule and later expelling them, on military campaigns
and the signing of peace treaties.
The Federation Council of the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation
was established under the Constitution of the Russian Federation, ratified 12
December 1993 in a nationwide referendum. The Federation Council
is the upper house of parliament representing the interests
of regions at the federal level and reflecting
the federative nature of the Russian state.
The Federal Assembly’s bicameral structure is
deeply rooted in Russian history and worldwide parliamentary
traditions. Today, almost 80 federative and unitary countries have
bicameral parliaments.
Over the ages, the upper chambers
of many national parliaments had evolved from assemblies
of councilors, subordinated to national rulers, and had class
or estate based representation. Russian princedoms had their own Dumas,
subordinated to local princes and consisting
of the princes’ close supporters and comrades-in-arms. These
Dumas played the part of permanent councils. After
the establishment of the Tsardom of Muscovy, the Boyar
Duma succeeded the Grand Prince’s Duma. It existed until the late 17th century and was later reorganised
as the Senate. Under Emperor Peter the Great, the Senate
was expected to serve as the institution of supreme state
authority in his absence.
Meetings of Boyars, priests, representatives
of the government service class (primarily from among
the nobility) and the merchant class became the first representative
institutions. Russian tsars convened these meetings from the mid-16th century until the 1670s
and were later referred to as the Councils
of the Estates. The Councils elected tsars, declared war, signed
peace treaties, accepted new territories into the Russian state
and reviewed taxation issues. The functions of the Councils
of the Estates, their prerogatives and terms of reference
virtually coincided with the list of problems and issues
reviewed by parliaments of the estates in Western
and Central European countries. However, as absolutism grew stronger
in Russia,
the Councils of the Estates lost relevance by the late
17th century.
The first attempt to establish
a bicameral parliament, similar to West European parliaments, was
made in the early 19th century.
Acting on orders from Russian Emperor Alexander I, prominent statesman
Mikhail Speransky drafted the concept of a bicameral legislature
that was to have consisted of the State Duma
and the State Council headed by the Emperor. Established
in 1810, the State Council became the supreme legislature
of the Russian Empire. Its members debated all bills and other
legislative acts pending approval by the Emperor. But the State
Duma was never established.
The idea of a bicameral national
legislature was almost realised in the last years of life
of the reformer Tsar Alexander II. The assassination
of Alexander II and the subsequent counter-reforms
of Alexander III delayed the country’s movement toward this goal.
In the early 1900s, all strata
of Russian society started demanding the creation
of a national representative and legislative institution.
In the autumn of 1905 and the winter of 1906,
Emperor Nicholas II met society halfway and issued edicts and decrees
establishing the State Duma and the upgraded State Council,
which had existed for almost 100 years by that time. In his 20
February 1906 edict, Nicholas II stated expressly that, after
the convocation of the State Council and the State
Duma, no law could enter into force without their prior approval.
Representation in the State Council,
the upper house of the first Russian parliament, was determined
by a mixed formula. The Tsar appointed 50 percent of its
members, and the rest were either elected under the territorial
principle (one State Council member from each Gubernia/Regional Council
of Estates) or under the estate-corporate principle (six priests
from the Russian Orthodox Church, 18 members from Gubernia/Regional
nobility societies, six members from the Russian Academy of Sciences
and from universities, six members from industrial corporations
and six more members from commercial corporations).
The first Russian parliament lasted for just
over ten years. A new system of representative institutions called
Soviets (Councils) evolved during the February and October
revolutions of 1917.
Starting in 1924, the Congress
of the Soviets de jure exercised legislative and representative
functions in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Congress established two houses, the Soviet (Council)
of the Union and the Soviet
(Council) of Nationalities, for the purposes of its regular
work. The former’s members represented Union republics in direct
proportion to their populations. The latter consisted of five
members from each autonomous region and one member from each republic.
The Constitution of 1936 retained
the bicameral parliament and replaced two-stage elections
of house members with direct elections. It also stipulated
a mechanism of conciliation proceedings in the event of disagreements
between the houses and even the possibility of dissolving
both houses if they failed to reach consensus. The Supreme Soviet
(Parliament) of the USSR
also consisted of two houses having equal rights: the Soviet
(Council) of the Union
and the Soviet (Council) of Nationalities. This system existed
until the breakup of the USSR.
The 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation
formalised the Federal Assembly’s status, the country’s bicameral
parliament and set forth the Federation Council’s powers
and terms of reference. Under the Constitution’s Article 95,
the Federation Council comprises two representatives from every Russian
region: one from the representative authority and one from
the executive authority.
Deputies of the upper house
of parliament of the first convocation were elected under
a proportional majority system in double-member electoral districts,
established within the administrative borders of Russian regions (one
electoral district in every Russian region). Prospective Federation
Council members were nominated by groups of voters and election
blocs. Under interim provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation,
deputies of the Federation Council of the first convocation
exercised their powers on a part-time basis. On 13 January 1994,
Vladimir Shumeiko was elected the first Speaker
of the Federation Council.
In late 1995, the federal law
On the Procedure of Establishing the Federation Council
of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was passed.
According to its provisions, the Federation Council comprised two
representatives from every constituent entity of the Russian Federation:
the head of the regional legislature and the head
of the executive authority, ex-officio. On 23 February 1996,
Yegor Stroyev, Head of the Oryol Region Administration, was elected
Speaker of the Federation Council.
On 8 August 2000, the new federal law
On the Procedure of Establishing the Federation Council
of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, entered into
force. According to its provisions, a representative of a Russian
region’s executive authority in the Federation Council was appointed
by the chief government official in that constituent entity
(head of the supreme executive authority of a constituent
entity). A Federation Council member representing a legislative
(representative) authority of a constituent entity was elected
by that same body for the entire duration of its term. If
a regional legislature was formed on a rotating basis,
a Federation Council member was appointed for the duration
of one term of its elected deputies. Federation Council members
exercised their powers on a full-time basis.
On 5 December 2001, Sergei Mironov,
the representative of the St Petersburg Legislative Assembly
in the Federation Council, was elected Speaker
of the Federation Council.
On 4 February 2009, the Federation Council
approved the federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts
of the Russian Federation
in Connection with Changes in the Procedure of Establishing
the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
Under the new law, a citizen of the Russian Federation who is a deputy
of a legislative (representative) authority
of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation,
or a deputy of a municipal entity’s representative body
located in a Russian region can be elected or appointed
to the Federation Council. The law stipulated a transition
period during which incumbent Federation Council members were able
to complete their term. The new procedure for establishing
the Federation Council entered into force as of 1 January 2011.
On 10 September 2011, Valentina Matvienko,
representative of the executive authority of the city
of St Petersburg,
was elected Speaker of the Federation Council.
The Federation Council was restructured
in November 2011, with ten new committees replacing its 16 committees
and 11 permanent commissions.
In 2012, members of a Federation
Council working group drafted the federal law On the Procedure
of Establishing the Federation Council of the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation, which sought to encourage
more active involvement of Russian citizens in establishing
the “house of the regions.” Society supported this initiative,
and the President of the Russian Federation submitted
the draft law to the State Duma in June.
On 20 November 2012, the State Duma passed
the new federal law On the Procedure of Establishing
the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
The Federation Council passed the document on 28 November, with
the President of Russia signing it on 3 December.
Under the law, only a deputy
of a legislative authority of a constituent entity can
represent it in the Federation Council. The regional parliament,
by a majority of votes, appoints the representative
in the month after the first sitting of a new
convocation of the regional parliament.
When electing the chief government official
of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation (head
of the supreme executive authority of the constituent
entity of the Russian Federation) each candidate to this office
submits to the relevant election commission a list of three
candidates who meet the requirements and limitations as per
the Federal Law, and one of these three persons is appointed
to the Federation Council as a representative
of the executive authority of the relevant constituent
entity of the Russian Federation, if the candidate
to the office of chief government official
in the region is elected.
The law states expressly that a Russian
citizen upon reaching 30 years or older and living
in the region in question for the past five years can
become a member of the Federation Council. The so-called
residency requirement does not apply to Federal Assembly members, persons
occupying state positions or civil-service positions
of the relevant Russian region for a period of five
years or those who had occupied state positions or civil-service
positions of the relevant Russian region for the same time
period pending their nomination as prospective Federation Council members.
The law requires candidates to have
an unimpeachable reputation. A Russian citizen convicted
for grave or particularly grave crimes, or for extremist
crimes, as stipulated by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,
or whose conviction remains in effect, cannot become a prospective
Federation Council member.
The new procedure for establishing
the Federation Council entered into force on 1 January 2013.
A member of the Federation Council who has been elected
or appointed pending the law’s entry into force shall continue
to exercise authority until a new member of the Federation
Council has been vested with authority under the procedure stipulated
by the law after scheduled elections to the relevant
government body of the Russian region have been held.
In 2012, the Council of Legislators
of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was established
on the initiative of President of the Russian
Federation Vladimir Putin. Council members aimed to create a common
legal infrastructure, to coordinate law-making activities of regional
parliaments and to exchange experience. Council members held their
first meeting on 31 May 2012 and decided to approve
the regulations of the Council of Legislators
of the Russian Federation and to establish
the Council’s Presidium. The second meeting of members
of the Council of Legislators involving President
of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took place on 13
December 2012. Meeting participants discussed the tasks
of legislative (representative) authorities to achieve strategic
long-term goals of the Russian Federation’s socioeconomic
development.
The Federation Council has initiated major
international projects and events of major importance
for the Russian Federation’s economic development
and for expanded integration processes in the Commonwealth
of Independent States.
The St Petersburg International Economic Forum
was established in 1997 on the initiative
of the Federation Council. The forum’s main tasks included large
scale non-politicised discussions involving representatives of government,
the academic and business communities, and focusing
on the economic development of Russia and neighbouring states
as well as efforts to improve the investment climate
in Russian regions. From 2006, as per instructions of President
Putin, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum has operated under
the Government of the Russian Federation, with
the participation of the Federation Council.
The Baikal Economic Forum began work
in September 2000 and became a significant event
in the economic life of Siberia, the Russian Far East
and Russia
as a whole. This was a biannual event until 2010. In 2010,
it was decided to hold the Forum each year. In September 2012, Ulan-Ude hosted
the international economic conference New Economy − New Approaches
as part of the Baikal Economic Forum.
Other major international forums take place under
the auspices of the Federation Council, such
as the international congress Road Safety for the Safety
of Life (held since 2007, including the fourth congress in 2012)
and the Nevsky International Ecological Congress (first held
in 2008, involves the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of CIS
and PACE countries and is sponsored by the Russian
Government). The 5th Nevsky
International Ecological Congress was held in May 2012.
In 2009, the Federation Council initiated
the annual parliamentary forum Historical and Cultural Heritage
of Russia in the city of Kostroma. In October 2012, Kostroma hosted
the fourth forum.
Parliaments play a key role in launching
constructive dialogue and strengthening a practical approach toward
international cooperation. The importance of their contribution
to international politics continues to increase with every passing
year. The Federation Council is actively involved in the work
of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly as part
of the parliamentary delegation of the Federal Assembly
of the Russian Federation. Valentina Matvienko chairs
the Council of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.
The Federation Council’s membership
in the Association of European
Senates serves as international recognition of its merits. On 28
June 2002, Association members met in Ljubljana,
the capital of Slovenia,
and decided to admit the Federation Council.
In January 2013, a delegation
of the Federation Council took part in the work of the 21st session of the Asia
Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in Vladivostok. Russia
chaired that session whose participants focused on legislative support
for decisions charted by APEC economic leaders during their meeting
in autumn of 2012 that was also chaired by Russia.
The work of the Federation Council is
in many ways a testament to the historical
continuity of the most democratic traditions of exercising
legislative power in Russia.
The Federation Council, which aims
to promote the integration and consolidation of Russian
regions, balances federal and regional interests in decision-making
in order to achieve strategic long-term national development goals.