ADecree of the President of the Russian Federation (Russian:Указ Президента Российской Федерации;Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii) orExecutive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia[1][2] is a legal act (ukase) with the status of a by-law made by thePresident of Russia.
As normative legal acts, such have the status ofby-laws in the hierarchy of legal acts (along withDecrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and instructions and directions of other officials). Presidential decrees may not alter existing laws of higher precedence – theConstitution of Russia,Federal Constitutional Laws, Federal Laws and laws of Russian regions and, till the2020 Russian constitutional referendum,Russia's international agreements, which now however stand in lower precedence than Presidential Decrees or any other Russian state law or obligation – and may be superseded by any of these laws.
In 1992 and 1993 a constant war between President Yeltsin and the Russian parliament became known as "war of laws" when presidential decrees issued by president Yeltsin were overturned by separate legislation adopted by the parliament. The war reached its peak in October 1993 when Yeltsinordered to shoot theparliament building. Following the referendum of 1993 which resulted in the enacting of new constitution, many decrees issued by Yeltsin, a process which was shrinking as the legislative vacuum filled-in by enacting of various laws thus limiting the range of presidential discretion.[3]
