The Limitations of Central Authority in the Regions and the Implications for the Evolution of Russia's Federal System

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Notes

1 Tat'yana Vasil'eva, Analytical Report of the Institute of Law and Public Policy, 5 October 2001, p. 18.

2 President's Address to the Federal Assembly, Moscow, 3 April 2001, http://president.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2001/04/28514.shtml.

3 Gordon M. Hahn, ‘The Impact of Putin's Federative Reforms on Democratisation in Russia’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 19, 2, 2003, pp. 114 – 153 at pp. 147 – 149.

4 Interfax, 17 November 2004.

5 RIA Novosti, 19 May 2004.

6 A. Kornya & A. Lepsky, ‘Smotr administrativnogo resursa’, Vremya MN, 11 February 2003.

7 RIA Novosti Ural, 24 October 2002, http://ural.rian.ru/news.html?nws_id=33544.

8 Georgii Poltavchenko, ‘Institut polpredstva v tsentral'nom federal'nom okruge: itogi i perspektivy’, Internet conference at MSU, http://www.garweb.ru/conf/polpred_cfo/20030429/index.htm.

9 V. Postnova, ‘Tatarstan v grazhdanskom brake s Rossiei’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 23 April 2002.

10 Article 1.1 of the document states that ‘sovereignty is the integral qualitative characteristic of the republic and is expressed through the execution of full power in the areas outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation’. The full text of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan is available at http://www.tatar.ru/constitution.html.

11 I. Rakipov, ‘Primet li Kreml’ Konstitutsiyu Tatarstana, kak ee prinyal Nemtsov?’, Respublika Tatarstan, 30 April 2002.

12 Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii No. 1486 ot 10.08.00 ‘O dopolnitel'nykh merakh po obespecheniyu edinogo pravovogo prostranstva Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, http://document.kremlin. ru/index.asp.

13 Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, Article 21.

14 Ibid., Article 8.

15 'Prokuror oprotestovyvaet zakon ‘O yazykakh respubliki Tatarstan’, Vremya i den'gi, 23 May 2003.

16 I. Naumov, ‘Genprokuratura ishchet pravdy’, Parlamentskaya gazeta, 21 March 2002.

17 Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia's Choice (London and New York, Routledge Press, 2004), p. 156.

18 Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Article 87.25 and Article 100, http://constitution.garant.ru/DOC_17600023.htm#sub_para_N_603.

19 Ibid., Article 85.

20 Ibid., Article 87.25.

21 A. Vedernikov, ‘Strakhi i strasti vlasti’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 13 May 2003.

22 Nikolai Petrov, ‘Federalism Russian-Style and the Evolution of Centre – Regional Relations', http://casnov1.cas.muohio.edu/havighurstcenter/papers/petrov.pdf.

23 Igor’ Bartsis, ‘Federal'noe i regional'noe zakonodatel'stvo: trebovanie sootvetstviya’, Pravo i politika, 2001, 3, http://law-and-politics.com/paper.shtml?a = 3_2001&o = 129121.

24 The full text of the law is available at http://refugee.memo.ru/For_All/law.nsf/0/09478686826fb 36ac3256bfd007a7b35?OpenDocument.

25 ‘Stavropol'skii krai budet ustanavlivat’ kvoty na migratsiyu’, grani.ru, 9 July 2003.

26 President's Address to the Federal Assembly, Moscow, 18 April 2002, http://president.kremlin.ru/events/510.html.

27 I. Nagornykh, ‘Gubernatory otkazyvayutsya ot privelegii’, Kommersant Daily, 10 July 2001.

28 Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, Part 1, Article 1.

29 Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Preamble.

30 President's Address to the Federal Assembly, 18 April 2002.

31 Federal'nyi Zakon ‘O printsipakh i poryadkakh razgranicheniya predmetov vedeniya i polnomochii mezhdu organami gosudarstvennoi vlasti Rossiiskoi Federatsii i organami gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub'' ektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, Moscow, 24 June 1999, http://document. kremlin.ru/index.asp.

32 Ibid.

33 The leader of Chuvashia, Fedorov, acted as a voice of gubernatorial resistance by appealing to Russia's Constitutional Court to render the presidential initiatives unconstitutional. Initially, Fedorov planned to mobilise the entire Federation Council and launch this case collectively. However, only two regional legislatures—those of Yakutia and Adygeya—decided to back Fedorov's collective claim.

34 Postanovlenie Konstitutsionnogo Suda RF po delu proverki konstitutsionnosti otdel'nykh polozhenii Federal'nogo Zakona ‘Ob obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii zakonodatel'nykh i ispolnitel'nykh organov vlasti sub” ektov RF’ v svyazi s zaprosom Gosudarstvennogo Sobraniya Respubliki Sakha i Soveta Respubliki Gosudarstvennogo Soveta Respubliki Adygeya, 4 April 2002, available at the Official website of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, http://ks.rfnet.ru/pos/p8_02.htm.

35 This provision theoretically creates an opportunity for suspending governors on the basis of various criminal matters. In particular, it does not stipulate the precise criteria in accordance with which the president should either approve or reject a suspension request made by the General Prosecutor. Therefore, interpretation of the severity of the criminal matter remains unclear.

36 J. A. Corwin, ‘Vulnerability of Governors to Dismissal Questioned’, RFE/RL Russian Federation Report, 2, 21, 7 June 2000, cited in Cameron Ross, ‘Putin's Federal Reforms and the Consolidation of Federalism in Russia: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 36, 2003, pp. 29 – 47 at p. 40.

37 Federal'nyi Zakon FR ‘O vnesenii izmenenii i dopolnenii v Federal'nyi Zakon RF ‘Ob obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii zakonodatel'nykh (predstavitel'nykh) i ispolnitel'nykh organov gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub’’ ektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, Moscow, 4 July 2003, http://www.akdi.ru/gd/proekt/091202GD.SHTM.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid.

40 S. Sergievsky, ‘Figurant-gubernator’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 17 May 2004.

41 Sakwa, Putin: Russia's Choice, p. 153.

42 Rostislav Turovsky, ‘Novaya i khorosho zabytaya staraya elektoral'naya geografiya’, Moscow Centre for Political Technology, 14 January 2004.

43 Ol'ga Borodai, ‘Ekho suverenizatsii’, Rossiiskaya Federatsiya Segodnya, 2002, 3. A similar programme was adopted for Bashkortostan.

44 Yu. Gorbuntsov, ‘Shaimiev—Putin: nich'ya s prodolzheniem’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 12 March 2002.

45 ‘Byudzhet 2004: Regionam obeshchayut pomoch'’, Tsentr Izucheniya Regional'nykh Problem, 13 October 2003, http://www.reg-center.ru/finance/0310/1.shtml.

46 Ukaz Prezidenta RF ot 13.05.00 No. 849 ‘O polnomochnom predstavitele Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii v Federal'nom Okruge’, http://president.kremlin.ru/test_acm2/text/psmes/2000/05/31383.shtml.

47 Sergei Mikheev, ‘Reorganizatsiya MVD b'et po regional'nym lideram’, Moscow Centre for Political Technology, 29 September 2001.

48 Federal'nyi Zakon RF ‘O vnesenii izmenenii i dopolnenii v stat'i 7 i 9 Federal'nogo Zakona ‘O Militsii’, Moscow, 4 August 2001, http://document.kremlin.ru/index.asp.

49 Federal'nyi Zakon RF ‘O Militsii’ ot 18 February 1993, http://www.uvd.lipetsk.ru/law/990301.htm, see also http://hro.org/docs/rlex/militia/index.htm.

50 Federal'nyi Zakon RF ‘O vnesenii izmenenii i dopolnenii v stat'i 7 i 9 Federal'nogo Zakona ‘O Militsii’’.

51 Alla Chirikova, ‘Regional'naya vlast’: novye protsessy i novye figury’, in Alla Chirikova & Natal'ya Lapina (eds), Regional'nye protsessy v sovremennoi Rossii (Moscow, INION RAN, 2003), pp. 89 – 115 at p. 102.

52 Dmitrii Badovsky, ‘Sistema federal'nykh okrugov i institut polnomochnykh predstavitelei prezidenta RF: sovremennoe sostoyanie i problemy razvitiya’, Scientific-Research Institute of Social Systems of Moscow State University, Seriya Nauchnye Doklady, No. 7, May 2001.

53 Federal'nyi Zakon ‘Ob osnovnykh garantiyakh izbiratel'nykh prav i prava na uchastie v referendume grazhdan Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, Moscow, http://www.cikrf.ru/_3/zakon/zakon 67_02/fz_67_gl_4.htm.

54 Sakwa, Putin: Russia's Choice, p. 154.

55 E. Rudneva, ‘Nentsy otomstili kremlyu’, gazeta.ru, 24 January 2005, http://www.gazeta.ru/2005/01/24/oa_145949.shtml.

56 Petr Pospelov, ‘Kamchatskii peredel’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 28 December 2004.

57 ‘Podvedeny itogi regional'nykh vyborov’, grani.ru, 6 December 2004, http://grani.ru/Politics/Russia/Regions/m.80848.html.

58 D. Kamyshev, ‘Velika Rossiya, a nastupat’ nekomu’, Kommersant vlast’, 13 December 2004.

59 ‘Na vyborakh v Kurganskoi oblasti O. Bogomolov pobedil E. Sobakina’, kreml.org, 20 December 2004, http://kreml.org/news/74033484.

60 O. Romanova, ‘Strana chudes: razgul demokratii’, Vedomosti, 6 April 2004.

61 M. Sokolov, ‘Vybory 2000’, Radio Svoboda, http://www.svoboda.org/programs/el/2000/el.091400. asp.

62 S. Ivashko, ‘Nenetskaya neft’ ostalas' u Butova’, gazeta.ru, 15 January 2001, http://www.gazeta.ru/2001/01/15/neneckaaneft.shtml.

63 V. Lysov, ‘Ne luchshe li doverit'sya izbiratelyu?’, Parlamentskaya gazeta, 14 December 2000.

64 S. Migalin, ‘Kolyma ne vybrala khozyaina’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 4 February 2003.

65 ‘2002 god dlya Kurskoi oblasti: paradoksal'noe sochetanie ekonomicheskogo krizisa i politicheskoi stabilizatsii’, regiony.ru, 6 January 2003.

66 Ol'ga Kryshtanovskaya, ‘Rezhim Putina: liberal'naya militokratiya?’, Pro et Contra, 7, 4, Autumn 2002, pp. 158 – 180 at p. 164.

67 R. Orttung, ‘Key Issues in the Evolution of the Federal Okrugs’, in Peter Reddaway & Robert Orttung (eds), The Dynamics of Russian Politics: Putin's Reform of Federal – Regional Relations, Volume 1 (Oxford, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004), pp. 19 – 53 at p. 23.

68 Author's interview with A. Chirikova of the Institute of Sociology, Moscow (RAN).

69 ‘The Russian Elite Fears Integration with the West’, Vek, 1 November 2001, in Johnson's Russia List, 5 November 2001.

70 Ukaz Prezidenta RF ot 13 May 2000 No. 849 ‘O polnomochnom predstavitele Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii v Federal'nom Okruge’, http://president.kremlin.ru/test_acm2/text/psmes/2000/05/31383.shtml.

71 E. Tregubova, ‘Putin podderzhal svoikh polpredov zhivoi siloi’, Kommersant Daily, 13 July 2000.

72 Kryshtanovskaya, ‘Rezhim Putina’, p. 163.

73 Ibid., p. 163.

74 N. Zubarevich, N. Petrov & A. Titkov, ‘Federal'nye okruga: 2000’, in N. Petrov (ed.), Regiony Rossii v 1999: ezhegodnoe prilozhenie k ‘Politicheskomu al'manakhu Rossii’ (Moscow Gendalf, March 2001), pp. 173 – 196 at p. 174.

75 Ukaz Prezidenta RF ot 13 May 2000 No. 849 ‘O polnomochnom predstavitele Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii v Federal'nom Okruge’, http://president.kremlin.ru/test_acm2/text/psmes/2000/05/31383.shtml.

76 R. Turovsky, ‘V ideal'noi federatsii polpredy ne nuzhny’, Rossiya, 19 June 2001.

77 Rostislav Turovsky, ‘Gubernatory i oligarkhi: istoriya otnoshenii’, Moscow Centre for Political Technology, 26 February 2002, http://www.politcom.ru/2002/aaa_c_vl3.php.

78 Il'ya Yuzhanov, interview, Vedomosti, 5 December 2002.

79 Reddaway & Orttung (eds), The Dynamics of Russian Politics, p. 292.

80 Cameron Ross, Federalism and Democratisation in Russia (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002), p. 176.

81 Hahn, ‘The Impact of Putin's Federative Reforms on Democratisation in Russia’, p. 149.

82 S. Migalin, ‘Bashkiriya podkhvatila oranzhevyi styag’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 24 January 2005.

83 V. Postnova, ‘V Karachaevo-Cherkessii trebuyut otstavki prezidenta’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 1 November 2004.

84 ‘Zhiteli Beslana perekryli trassu i trebuyut otstavki pravitel'stva’, gazeta.ru, 20 January 2005.

85 V. Postnova, ‘Latinisty Tatarstana upovayut na UNESCO’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 31 January 2005.

86 A. Riskin, ‘Chechnya svobodna: v pridachu tri milliarda’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 20 January 2005.

87 ‘Gubernatory Starozhily’, gazeta.ru, 25 April 2005, available at http://www.gazeta.ru/2005/04/25/oa_155826.shtml.

88 Timur Samedov, ‘Prezidenta Kabardino-Balkarii Nashli Vdali ot Rodiny’, Kommersant Daily, 29 September 2005; see also Dmitrii Elovskii, ‘Gubernator s Bol'shoi Dorogi’, Kommersant Daily, 15 August 2005.