An Expanding Meaning of Presidential Amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation

The paper deals with the issues of interconnectedness and the role of constitutional amendments introduced by the President of the Russian Federation to the current Constitution of the Russian Federation on January 20, 2020. In assessing the meaning and content of a great deal of amendments to Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the author concludes that they have additional, however, sometimes more important value in the context of the hierarchy of constitutional norms, which is directly related to the chapters of the Constitution that are not subject to any revision. Despite the formal inalterability, the foundations of the constitutional order have in fact as a result of the amendments gained such new provisions as: “the stateconstituing people that is a part of the multinational union of equal peoples of the Russian Federation”; “ban on alienation of a part of the territory of the Russian Federation and calls for such actions”; “non-enforcement of decisions of interstate bodies adopted on the basis of the provisions of international agreements of the Russian Federation in their interpretation contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation”; “the state guarantee of minimum wage not less than the minimum living wage of the working population.” The rules governing certain fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen (art. 37–39, 44 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) have been supplemented with new content without being formally altered. Ambivalence of local self-government leading to opposition between local and state authorities, partly resulting from the provision of Article 12 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation concerning the autonomy of local self-government bodies. Their failure to enter the system of public authorities is partially minimized by the provision on their unity in the system of public power. However, many, and at first glance minor, amendments to Chapter 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation significantly reduce the potential of power for the local population, turn the constituent rules concerning its powers to the reference rule. The conclusion draws attention to some issues in the activity of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the implementation of these constitutional amendments.

amendments to the Constitution, foundations of constitutional order, human rights, local selfgovernment, state, sovereignty, population power, law

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