Federal Assembly Федеральное собрание Federalnoye sobraniye | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Federation Council (upper house) State Duma (lower house) |
| History | |
| Founded | 12 December 1993; 31 years ago (1993-12-12) |
| Preceded by | Supreme Soviet of Russia Constitutional Conference of Russia |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 628
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Federation Council political groups |
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State Duma political groups | Government (337)
Other parties (103)
Vacant seats (10)
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| Elections | |
| Indirect election | |
Parallel voting:
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LastFederation Council election | 12 December 1993 |
LastState Duma election | 17–19 September 2021 |
NextState Duma election | Before 20 September 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Federation Council Building,Moscow | |
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| State Duma Building,Moscow | |
| Website | |
| Gov.ru | |
| Constitution | |
| Constitution of Russia, Chapter V, Articles 94-109 | |
| Footnotes | |
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TheFederal Assembly[a] is the bicameral national legislature ofRussia. The upper house is theFederation Council, and the lower house is theState Duma. The assembly was established by theConstitution of the Russian Federation in 1993, replacing the formerSupreme Soviet of Russia. It is located inMoscow.
TheChairman of the Federation Council is the third most important position after thePresident and thePrime Minister. In the case that both the President and the Prime Minister are incapacitated, the Speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament becomesActing President of Russia.[4][5]
The jurisdiction of the Federation Council includes: approval of changes in borders betweenfederal subjects of Russia, approval of thepresidential decree on the introduction of amartial law or on the introduction of astate of emergency, deciding on the possibility of using theArmed Forces of Russia outside the territory of Russia, appointment ofelections of the President,impeachment of the President, appointment of judges ofhigher courts of Russia, appointment and dismissal of theProsecutor General of Russia, appointment and dismissal of Deputy Chairman and half of the auditors of the allAccounts Chamber and others.[6]
The jurisdiction of the State Duma includes: consent to the appointment of thePrime Minister (Chairman of the Government), deciding the issue of confidence in the Government, appointment and dismissal of the Governor of theCentral Bank, appointment and dismissal of the Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber, appointment and dismissal of theCommissioner for Human Rights, proclamation ofamnesty, advancing of charges against the President for his impeachment and others.[7]
Since the2003 elections, the Federal Assembly has been referred to by analysts and observers as being arubber stamp institution.[8][9][10][11]
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As the Russian legislature, all laws must be voted in the Federal Assembly before they are signed into law. All bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the State Duma. Upon adoption by a majority of the full State Duma membership, a draft law is considered by the Federation Council, which has fourteen days to place the bill on its calendar. The Federation Council cannot make changes in bills passed by the Duma and can either approve or reject them. If the Federation Council rejects a bill passed by the State Duma, the two chambers must form a conciliation commission to work out a compromise version of the legislation. If two chambers cannot reach a compromise, or the Duma insists on passing the billas is, the veto of the Federation Council can be overridden, if two thirds of the Duma's constitutional composition vote in favor of the bill.
The State Duma and the Federation Council usually meet separately. Joint sessions are organized when:
In the mid 2000s it was suggested that the Parliamentary centre of theState Duma andFederation Council be combined into one building.[12][13] In 2012, the idea was supported by PresidentDmitry Medvedev.[14] Reasons cited for the construction of a new building included the cramped nature of the parliament members' current offices, the remote locations of these offices split across ten locations inMoscow, and the desire of the government to move the bodies away from the city centre to reduce traffic congestion.
Various areas of Moscow were examined to serve as the new parliamentary center:Kutuzovsky Avenue,Frunzenskaya Embankment, "Moscow City",Tushino airfield, Krasnaya Presnya Street,Moskvoretskaya Embankment,Muzeon Park of Arts and the Sofia Embankment. In September 2014, the Mnyovniki floodplain was selected, a decision which was protested by ecologists.[15]
The design of the new building was to be decided on the basis of an architectural competition.[16] The parliamentarians, however, disagreed on aesthetic decisions between candidates in the competition, which were not resolved when the contest was conducted a second time.[17]
Financing issues caused complications. Originally, the Parliamentary center was to be funded by private investors, who would in turn receive ownership of a building currently belonging to the State Duma and the Federation Council, as well as permits to tear it down and replace the building with their own development projects (such as hotels). An objection to this plan was lodged by architectural critic Grigory Revzin, arguing that the State Duma is located in thebuilding of the Council of Labor and Defense which was designed byArkady Langman and built in 1935, rendering the existing State Duma building an architectural monument, which would be protected by the state and cannot be demolished.
Work on the parliamentary center was to begin in 2020.[18] However, in 2016 it was postponed to an unknown date due to the economic situation and disagreements on what the center should look like.[19]
Duma election of 2003, reducing the legislature to a rubber stamp.
Russian elections are not free and fair, and Parliament's role in recent years has mainly been to rubber-stamp the Kremlin's initiatives while providing a veneer of democratic legitimacy to Mr. Putin's rule.
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