The Constitution of the Russian Federation

Chapter 3. The Federal Structure

Article 65

1. The Russian Federation shall be composed of the following constituent entities of the Russian Federa­tion:

Republic of Adygeya (Adygeya), Republic of Altai, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Buryatia, Re­public of Daghestan, Ingushi Republic, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Republic of Kalmykia — Halmg Tangch, Karachayevo-Cherkessian Republic, Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, Republic of Marij El, Re­public of Mordovia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Re­public of North Ossetia, Republic of Tatarstan (Tatar-stan), Republic of Tuva, Udmurtian Republic, Republic of Khakassia, Chechen Republic, Chuvashi Republic — Chavash respubliki;

Altai kray, Krasnodar kray, Krasnoyarsk kray, Pri-morie kray, Stavropol kray, Khabarovsk kray;

Amur oblast, Arkhangelsk oblast, Belgorod oblast, Bryansk oblast, Vladimir oblast, Volgograd oblast, Vo­logda oblast, Voronezh oblast, Ivanovo oblast, Irkutsk oblast, Kaliningrad oblast, Kaluga oblast, Kamchatka oblast, Kemerovo oblast, Kirov oblast, Kostroma oblast, Kurgan oblast, Kursk oblast, Leningrad oblast, Lipetsk oblast, Magadan oblast, Moscow oblast, Mur­mansk oblast, Nizhni Novgorod oblast, Novgorod ob­last, Novosibirsk oblast, Omsk oblast, Orenburg oblast, Oryol oblast, Penza oblast, Perm oblast, Pskov oblast, Rostov oblast, Ryazan oblast, Samara oblast, Saratov oblast, Sakhalin oblast, Sverdlovsk oblast, Smolensk oblast, Tambov oblast, Tver oblast, Tomsk oblast, Tula oblast, Tyumen oblast, Ulyanovsk oblast, Chelyabinsk oblast, Chita oblast, Yaroslavl oblast;

Moscow, St.Petersburg — cities of federal signifi­cance; the Jewish autonomous oblast;

Aginsk Buryat autonomous okrug, Komi-Permyat-ski autonomous okrug, Koryak autonomous okrug, Nenets autonomous okrug, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) autonomous okrug, Ust-Ordyn Buryat autonomous okrug, Khanty-Mansijsk autonomous okrug, Chukotka autonomous okrug, Evenk autonomous okrug, Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrug.

2. Admission into the Russian Federation and crea­tion of a new constituent entity shall take place in accordance with the procedure established by federal constitutional law.

Article 66

1. The status of a republic shall be determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the constitution of the republic.

2. The status of a kray, oblast, city of federal sig­nificance, autonomous oblast and autonomous okrug shall be determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the charter of the kray, oblast, city of federal significance, autonomous oblast and autono­mous okrug which is adopted by the legislative (repre­sentative) body of the corresponding constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

3. On a submission from legislative and executive bodies of an autonomous oblast or autonomous okrug, a federal law concerning an autonomous oblast or autonomous okrug may be adopted.

4. Relations among autonomous okrugs within krays and oblasts may be regulated by federal law or by a treaty between State government bodies of the autonomous okrug and, accordingly, State government bodies of the kray or oblast.

5. The status of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation may be changed by mutual agreement be­tween the Russian Federation and the constituent en­tity of the Russian Federation in accordance with fed­eral constitutional law.

Article 67

1. The territory of the Russian Federation shall comprise the territories of its constituent entities, in­land waters and territorial sea and the air space over them.

2. The Russian Federation shall have sovereign rights and exercise jurisdiction on the continental shelf and in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation in accordance with the procedure specified by federal law and norms of international law.

3. Borders between constituent entities of the Rus­sian Federation may be changed upon their mutual consent.

Article 68

1. The Russian language shall be the State language on the entire territory of the Russian Federation.

2. Republics shall have the right to establish their own State languages. In State government bodies, local government bodies and State institutions of republics they shall be used together with the State language of the Russian Federation.

3. The Russian Federation shall guarantee all of its peoples the right to preserve their native language and to create conditions for its study and develop­ment.

Article 69

The Russian Federation shall guarantee the rights of indigenous small peoples in accordance with the universally recognized principles and norms of inter­national law and international treaties of the Russian Federation.

Article 70

1. The state flag, emblem and anthem of the Rus­sian Federation, their description and the procedure for the official use thereof shall be established by fed­eral constitutional law.

2. The capital of the Russian Federation shall be the city of Moscow. The status of the capital shall be established by federal law.

Article 71

The Russian Federation shall have jurisdiction over:

a) the adoption and amending of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws, control over compliance therewith;

6) the federative structure and the territory of the Russian Federation;

b) regulation and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms; citizenship in the Russian Fed­eration, regulation and protection of the rights of na­tional minorities;

r) establishment of the system of federal legislative, executive and judicial bodies, the procedure for their organisation and activities, the formation of federal State government bodies;

Рґ) federal State property and administration thereof;

e) establishment of the basic principles of federal policy and federal programmes in the sphere of State,

economic, ecological, social, cultural and national de­velopment of the Russian Federation;

Р¶) establishment of the basic legal principles for the unified market; financial, currency, credit and customs regulation; money emission; the basic principles of pricing policy, federal economic services, including federal banks;

Р·) the federal budget, federal taxes and levies, fed­eral funds of regional development;

Рё) federal power-engineering systems, nuclear power, fissile materials, federal transport, railways, in­formation and communication, activities in space;

Рє) foreign policy and international relations of the Russian Federation, international treaties of the Rus­sian Federation, issues of war and peace;

Р») foreign economic relations of the Russian Fed­eration;

Рј) defence and security; military production; de­termination of the procedure for selling and purchasing weapons, ammunition, military equipment and other military hardware; production of poisonous sub­stances, narcotic substances and the procedure for their use;

h) determination of the status and of protection of the State border, territorial sea, air space, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation;

o) the judicial system, public prosecution, criminal, criminal-procedural and criminal-executive legislation, amnesty and remission, civil, civil-procedural and arbitration-procedural legislation, legal regulation of intellectual property;

Рї) federal collision law;

СЂ) meteorological service, standards, metric and time systems, geodesy and cartography, official statis­tics and book-keeping;

c) State awards and honourary titles of the Russian Federation;

С‚) federal State service.

Article 72

1. The following shall be within the joint jurisdic­tion of the Russian Federation and constituent entities of the Russian Federation:

a) measures to ensure the correspondence of con­stitutions and laws of republics and the charters, laws and other normative legal acts of krays, oblasts, cities of federal significance, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws;

6) protection of human and civil rights and free­doms, protection of the rights of national minorities, ensuring lawfulness, law and order, public security; border zone regimes;

b) issues of the possession, utilisation and manage­ment of land and of subsurface, water and other natural resources;

r) demarcation of State property;

4). use of natural resources, protection of the envi­ronment and provisions for ecological safety; specially protected natural territories, protection of historical and cultural monuments;

e) general issues of upbringing, education, science, culture, physical education and sport;

Р¶) coordination of health care issues; protection of the family, maternity, fatherhood and childhood, so­cial protection, including social security;

3) carrying out measures against catastrophes, natu­ral disasters, epidemics, and rectification of their con­sequences;

Рё) establishment of common principles of taxation and levies in the Russian Federation;

Рє) administrative, administrative-procedural, la­bour, family, housing, land, water and forest legisla­tion; legislation on subsurface resources and on envi­ronmental protection;

Р») personnel of judicial and law enforcement bod­ies; lawyers, notaries;

m) protection of the traditional habitat and the tra­ditional way of life of small ethnic communities;

h) establishment of general principles of the organ­isation of the system of State government and local government bodies;

o) coordination of international and foreign eco­nomic relations of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, observance of international agreements of the Russian Federation.

2. The provisions of this article shall be equally valid for republics, krays, oblasts, cities of federal signifi­cance, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs.

Article 73

Outside the limits of authority of the Russian Fed­eration and the powers of the Russian Federation on issues under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Fed­eration and constituent entities of the Russian Federa­tion, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation shall enjoy full State authority.

Article 74

1. In the territory of the Russian Federation it shall not be permitted to establish custom borders, duties, levies or any other barriers to the free flow of goods, services and financial resources.

2. Restrictions on the movement of goods and serv­ices may be introduced in accordance with federal law only to ensure security, to protect the life and health of people, and to preserve nature and cultural values.

Article 75

1. The monetary unit in the Russian Federation shall be the rouble. Money emission shall be carried out exclusively by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The introduction and emission of other currencies in Russia shall not be permitted.

2. Protecting and ensuring the stability of the rouble shall be the principal function of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which it shall fulfil inde­pendently of other State governmental bodies.

3. The system of taxes paid to the federal budget and the general principles of taxation and levies in the Russian Federation shall be determined by federal law.

4. State loans shall be issued in accordance with the procedure specified by federal law and shall be floated on a voluntary basis.

Article 76

1. On issues under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws and federal laws shall be adopted. These shall have direct force on the entire territory of the Russian Federation.

2. On issues under the joint jurisdiction of the Rus­sian Federation and the constituent entities of the Rus­sian Federation, in addition to federal laws, laws and other normative acts of constituent entities of the Rus­sian Federation shall be issued which are adopted in accordance with those federal laws.

3. Federal laws may not conflict with federal con­stitutional laws.

4. Outside the limits of authority of the Russian Federation and of the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and constituent entities of the Russian Fed­eration, republics, krays, oblasts, cities of federal sig­nificance, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs shall exercise their own legal regulation, including the adoption of laws and other normative acts.

5. Laws and other legislative acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation shall not conflict with federal laws which are adopted in accordance with parts one and two of this article. In the event of a conflict between a federal law and any other act issued in the Russian Federation, the federal law shall prevail.

6. In the event of a conflict between a federal law and a normative act of a constituent entity of the Rus­sian Federation issued in accordance with part four of this article, the normative legal act of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation shall prevail.

Article 77

1. The system of State government bodies of repub­lics, krays, oblasts, cities of federal significance, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs shall be established by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation independently in accordance with the basic principles of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation and the general principles of the organisa­tion of representative and executive State government bodies which are established by federal law.

2. Within the limits of the jurisdiction and powers of the Russian Federation on issues under the joint authority of the Russian Federation and the constitu­ent entities of the Russian Federation, federal execu­tive government bodies and executive government bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation shall form a unified system of executive authority in the Russian Federation.

Article 78

1. Federal executive government bodies may, in order to exercise their powers, establish their own ter­ritorial bodies and appoint appropriate officials.

2. Federal executive government bodies, by agree­ment with executive government bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, may delegate some of their powers to the latter provided that this does not conflict with the Constitution of the Russian Federa­tion and federal laws.

3. Executive bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, by agreement with federal execu­tive government bodies, may delegate some of their powers to the latter.

4. The President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation shall provide for the implementation of the powers of federal State authorities on the entire territory of the Russian Fed­eration in accordance with the Constitution of the Rus­sian Federation.

Article 79

The Russian Federation may participate in interstate associations and transfer some of its powers to those associations in accordance with international agreements provided that this does not entail restrictions on human rights and freedoms and does not conflict with the basic principles of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation