Federation Council (Russia)
Сове́т Федера́ции (Sovet Federatsii)
|Federal Assembly of Russia|
|Last election||none (chosen by federal subjects of Russia)|
|Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, Moscow|
|This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Federation Council (Russian: Сове́т Федера́ции; Sovet Federatsii) is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (the parliament of the Russian Federation), according to the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. Each of the 83 federal subjects of Russia – consisting of 21 republics, 46 oblasts, nine krais, two federal cities, four autonomous okrugs, and one autonomous oblast – sends two senators to the Council, for a total membership of 166 Councillors.
The Council holds its sessions within the Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow, the former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroy), with further offices and committee rooms located on Novy Arbat Street. The two houses of the Federal Assembly are physically separated, with the State Duma residing in another part of Moscow. Sessions of the Federation Council are held in Moscow from January 25 to July 15, and from September 16 to December 31. Sessions are open to the public, although the location of sessions can be changed if the Federation Council so desires, and secure closed sessions may be convoked.
The modern history of the Federation Council begins during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis that pitted President Boris Yeltsin’s unpopular neoliberal and governmental structure reforms against the increasingly radical Congress of People’s Deputies, then the nation’s legislature. Throughout the year, the congress had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Yeltsin and his cabinet’s management of the floundering Russian economy, as well as with its plans for a new constitution for the Russian Federation to replace the Soviet-era 1978 Russian SFSR Constitution still in effect. In the midst of the increasingly tense crisis, on September 21, Yeltsin issued Presidential Decree №1400. The decree effectively scrapped constitutional reform then presently in discussion, as well as legally dissolving the Congress of People’s Deputies, ordering its replacement with an entirely new federal legislative structure, and granting the president increased executive powers. Following a war of words and acts of defiance from both sides, President Yeltsin abruptly ended the governmental power struggle by ordering the Russian army to bombard and storm the White House of Russia, then Russia’s legislative building between October 2–4, 1993.
Following the crushing of the Congress of People’s Deputies and other members of the federal and territorial governments who had initially supported what he viewed as a rebellious legislature, Yeltsin proceeded to present a new constitution. With the events of 1993 very much in mind, Yeltsin drafted a constitution that called for increased executive branch powers in prime ministerial appointments, veto overrides, and a stronger executive security council. The constitution also called for the creation of a bicameral legislature to be called the Federal Assembly, consisting of a lower house State Duma, and an upper house Federation Council. Although a Federation Council had been created by Yeltsin in July 1993 to gather regional representatives (except Chechnya) to support an earlier draft of a replacement constitution to the 1978 document, this Federation Council was to become a permanent part of the legislature.
The procedure of formation of the Council of Federation by election held according to the majority system was defined by Presidential Decrees No. 1626 from October 11, 1993 "On Elections to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation" and No. 1846 from November 6, 1993 "On Specification to the Resolution on Elections of Deputies to the State Duma and Resolution on Elections of Deputies to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 1993".
Similar to the United States Senate, the Federation Council would consist of two representatives from each of Russia’s federal subjects. Unlike the State Duma, which consisted of hundreds of districts across the nation, the Federation Council was to act as more or less the voice of Russia’s federated subdivisions. Early debate on its creation centered on whether or not the Federation Council should be elected at all. To solve some problems on the upper house’s first scheduled election in December, Yeltsin issued Presidential Decree 1628 on October 11, stipulating that candidates for the first elections needed at least two percent, or 25,000 signatures—whichever was highest—of their oblast, republic, krai, autonomous okrug, or federal city population. This helped previous territorial elites remain within national politics. The decree also stipulated a single term of two years before new elections in 1995.
The Council’s first elections occurred on December 12, 1993, running simultaneously with State Duma elections and a referendum on the new Constitution of the Russian Federation. With the constitution now in effect after its successful passage, elections for the Council were to be franchised solely to territorial authorities, with one senator elected from the subject’s legislature, and the other by the subject’s executive branch. This later was codified in 1995 when the Council’s first term expired.
The constitution, however, did not specify how senators were to be elected. By 1995, using this constitutional anomaly, regional executives could sit ex officio in both their own provincial executive posts and within the Federation Council. While the State Duma did much of the serious debates on Russian policy during this time, the Council became a lobby for regional interests, competing for federal attention.
The ascension of President Vladimir Putin following Yeltsin's resignation on December 31, 1999 brought many new changes to the Federation Council. As part of his top political goals in his first months of office in 2000, Putin proposed a reform law to change the makeup of the Council. Putin envisioned an upper house where regional executives had to choose designates, freeing it from what he saw as blatant personal cronyism on the part of provincial leaders. The Council furiously resisted Putin's plan, conscious that their role in federal politics, their very ability to enjoy the fruits of living within Moscow, and their parliamentary immunity would end. With the State Duma threatening to override a Council veto, and Putin’s threats to open federal criminal investigations on regional governors, the Council backed down and grudgingly supported the law in July 2000. In their place, a wave of new Kremlin-friendly senators took the vacated seats, complete with the full backing of Putin. The last of these dual senator-governors were rotated out of office in early 2002.
Following the Beslan school hostage crisis in September 2004, President Putin initiated a radical shakeup of the federal system, proposing that the direct elections of regional governors be replaced by appointments from the president himself. These appointments could later be confirmed or rejected by the provincial legislatures. The move further placed more control over the Council by the executive branch, due to laws which stipulate that regional executives have a say in choosing delegates to the upper house.
Since 2000, the Federation Council has largely remained a stable body. However, critics have charged that Putin’s tactics in reforming the upper house were blatantly undemocratic and anti-federal, arguing that the reforms created a rubber stamp body for the executive branch and the ruling United Russia party, similar to what the Soviet of Nationalities was during the Soviet period.
Officers and members 
As set in Article 101 of the Russian Constitution, the Federation Council “shall elect among its deputies the Chairman of the Council.” Some of the Chairman’s official duties include presiding over sessions, formulating and introducing draft agendas, issuing orders and consulting with the Council’s various committees, acting as the upper house’s official representative in the Federal Assembly, and signing resolutions to be passed forth to the president or the State Duma.
The current Chairman is Valentina Matviyenko.
Senators are able to retain membership to their respective parties, however they are asked not to bring party factionalism to the floor itself. Since the reforms of 2000, the Council has enjoyed a significantly close relationship with the Kremlin, helping easy passage of key legislation the Kremlin desires.
According to Article 98, all the members of the Council enjoy immunity from arrest, detainment, and searches. In 2007 the law on the Federation Council was amended, and now a senator must have resided for at least ten years on the territory he is representing.
The status of members of the Federation Council is defined by the Federal Law: "On Status of Members of the Council of Federation and Status of Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation".
Political affiliation 
Unlike the State Duma, with its division of parties and leaders, In 2002 parties were forbidden following Mironov’s election to the Chairmanship and the parliamentary procedures to disband all political factions.
Although the members of its transitory period of 1994 and 1995 were elected, 145 out of 178 deputies were not affiliated with any party. Most of them had been guided in chamber voting not by the abstract "Future of Russia", despite the fact that some of them were affiliated with particular political groups, but by the concrete interests of their own regions, which may not coincide with those of Moscow. However, since they were at the same time pragmatists, they have been willing to engage in dialogue with the central authorities. At one time, a territorially based political group such as the "Deputies of the Urals" was created in February 1994. Other regions were not hastening to form such alliances in the Council, which is indicative of the difficulties concerned with the articulation of regional interests.
Reporting success in many regions during gubernatorial elections in 1996–1997, leftists (National-Patriotic Union of Russia) were expecting the politicization of the FC through the formation of a strong communist faction. This did not happen: only a relatively small (20–25 persons), unorganized group of "red senators" appeared.
Some lobbyist groups in the Federation Council emerge in response to certain bills or groups of bills. Others have a more stable and enduring character, with "northerners" and "agrarians" being the strongest and most noticeable among them. Both are grouping around their profile committees: on affairs of the North, which separated in 1994 from the Committee on Federation Affairs and Regional Politics, and on Agrarian Politics.
Unlike the State Duma and the provincial legislatures throughout Russia, the Council is not directly elected, but instead chosen by territorial politicians, resembling in some respects to the structure of the U.S. Senate prior to the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The only exclusion was the first Federation council (1994–1996), which was elected on December 12, 1993.
According to Article 95, the Council comprises representatives of each Russian federal subject—two from each. One senator is elected by the provincial legislature, the other is nominated by the provincial governor and confirmed by the legislature. Prior to 2000, all provincial governors and heads of provincial legislatures sat in the Council ex officio while continuing to hold their territorial offices at the same time. Upon President Putin’s ascension to the Russian presidency, this practice was discontinued under pressure from the Kremlin, forbidding governors to hold dual posts.
Terms to the Council are also not nationally fixed, due to the continuing territorial nature of the upper house. Terms instead are determined according to the regional bodies they represent.
The Federation Council of the transitional period (1993–1995) was formed by direct elections in the regions, each of which constituted a two-member district. Its composition was rather diverse: heads of regional executives (59) and legislatures (15) composed less than 45% of the house. Four out of every ten deputies were former Soviet or Russian people's deputies. There were also those who worked on a professional basis (i.e., not regional chiefs). At that time, the work styles of the Duma and the Federation Council were rather similar. Federation Council Deputies were much more politicized than now, there were lots of discussions and public voting. Some attempts were made especially by leftists to form factions, but all failed due to insufficient numbers.
Before the first Federation Council finished its work in 1995, a new system for electing Federation Council members was devised. The State Duma promised its support in exchange for the Council backing for a mixed system of representation for the Duma. The Duma then reversed its position in autumn 1995, fearing the cancellation of Duma elections, and accepted the scheme supported by the president. According to this plan, heads of regional executive and legislative power automatically become members of the Federation Council. The Duma insisted, however, that governors should no longer be appointed by the president, but rather must be directly elected in their regions by the end of 1996.
In 2001–2004 regional bodies were able to recall their senator by the same procedure as they've appointed him or her. Such recalls once occurred quite often. But a new law passed in December 2004 required that a recall procedure must be first initiated by the chairman of Federation Council. The procedure hasn't been implemented since.
As the upper house of the Federal Assembly, the Federation Council is viewed as a more formal chamber than the lower house State Duma. Because of its federalist design, as well as its voting franchise strictly limited to provincial elites, the Council is viewed as less volatile to radical changes.
The Council is charged in cooperating with the State Duma in completing and voting on draft laws. Federal laws concerning budgets, customs regulations, credit monitoring, and the ratification of international treaties are to be considered by the Council after they have been adopted from the State Duma, where most legislation is introduced.
Special powers that accorded only to the Federation Council are:
- Approval of changes in borders between the subjects of the Russian Federation;
- Approval of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of martial law;
- Approval of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of a state of emergency;
- Deciding on the possibility of using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation;
- Declaring of elections of the President of the Russian Federation;
- Impeachment of the President of the Russian Federation;
- approving the president's nomination of judges of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation;
- approving the president's nomination of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation;
- Appointment of Deputy Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounting Chamber.
For laws to pass the Federation Council, a vote of more than half of its 166 senators is required. When considering federal constitutional laws, three-fourths of the Council’s votes are required for passage. If the Council vetoes a law passed by the State Duma, the two chambers are mandated to form a Conciliation Committee in order to form a compromise document, which would again go under vote by both houses. The Federation Council's veto can be overcome by two-thirds majority in the Duma.
Federal laws on issues concerning federal budget of Russia, federal taxes and duties, financial, currency, credit and customs regulation, money emission, ratification and denonsiation of international treaties of the Russian Federation, status and defence of the state border of the Russian Federation, war and peace issues should be considered by the Council only after they had been adopted by the State Duma.
Committees form a key component to the structure of the Council. Sixteen committees and seven commissions exist for senators to consider legislation and policy on a number of issues ranging from foreign affairs, federal affairs, and youth and sports. Leadership in these committees are determined by the Council Chairman, who remains in correspondence with their findings. These committees include:
- Committee on Constitutional Legislation
- Committee on Judicial and Legal Affairs
- Committee on Defence and Security
- Budgetary Committee
- Committee on Financial Markets and Currency Circulation
- Foreign Affairs Committee
- Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States
- Committee on Federal Affairs and Regional Policies
- Committee on Local Government
- Social Policy Committee
- Committee on Economic Policy, Business and Ownership
- Industrial Policy Committee
- Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
- Committee on Food and Agricultural Policies
- Committee for Science, Culture, Education, Public Health and Ecology
- Committee on Northern Territories and Indigenous Minorities
- Commission on Standing Orders and Parliamentary Performance Organisation
- Commission for the Council of Federation's Performance Maintenance Monitoring
- Commission on Ways and Means of the Council of Federation's Constitutional Powers Implementation
- Commission for Interaction with the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation
- Commission on Youth and Sports
- Commission on Information Policy
- Commission on Natural Monopolies
Chairmen of the Federation Council 
|№||Portrait||Name||Took office||Left office||Political Party|
Councilor for Kaliningrad Oblast
|13 January 1994||23 January 1996||Independent|
Councilor for Oryol Oblast
|23 January 1996||5 December 2001||Independent|
Councilor for Saint Petersburg
|5 December 2001||18 May 2011||Russian Party of Life
A Just Russia
||19 May 2011||21 September 2011||United Russia|
Councilor for Saint Petersburg
|21 September 2011||Incumbent||United Russia|
Presidential Envoys to the Federation Council 
- Alexander Yakovlev (February 18, 1994, – February 10, 1996)
- Anatoly Sliva (February 10, 1996, – October 27, 1998)
- Yury Yarov (December 7, 1998, – April 13, 1999)
- Vyacheslav Khizhnyakov (May 12, 1999, – April 5, 2004)
- Alexander Kotenkov (since April 5, 2004)
Critics to the Federation Council stress that the upper house is an inherently undemocratic body made for regional elites, with little say from the Russian people. Since the reforms advocated and passed by President Putin in 2000, critics have also charged that the Council resembles more of a rubber stamp body for the Kremlin than an independent legislative body. Many senators, including Council Chairman Sergey Mironov, are viewed as close allies of Putin and the United Russia party, despite rules which explicitly spell out that political factions are not allowed. Since Mironov’s rise in the Council in 2002, the Kremlin’s position on impending legislation is closely communicated to and coordinated with the Chairman and the committee and commission chairs. This top-down approach has meant that the Council votes with extreme efficiency, backing Kremlin positions on legislation nearly all of the time.
Critics also point to how long the Council convenes, meeting only one day every two weeks, speeding through legislative analysis and providing lop-sided majorities for each vote. Many blame this speedy legislation on the enormous influence the Kremlin exerts, who they charge have already instructed Council committee and commission chairs on how to vote. Several left-leaning State Duma deputies have lamented that Putin has stripped away the upper house’s last hold on checks and balances.
Since Putin’s restructuring of provincial executives in 2004, placing them under direct appointment by the Kremlin upon approval of their legislatures, federalist supporters have also charged the president in reducing the provincial role of the upper house. Where Yeltsin had envisioned an upper house composing of regional concerns, they argue, critics view Putin's restructuring as deeply centralizing the Council to reflect the president’s and United Russia’s political interests, taking away provincial voices. Putin supporters counter these criticisms by acknowledging that Yeltsin had also appointed governors to Russia's federal subjects in the early days of the Federation.
See also 
- List of Deputy Chairmen of the Federation Council of Russia
- Politics of Russia
- State Duma
- Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Конституция Российской Федерации, Статья 65 (Constitution of Russia, Article 65) (Russian)
- Parliamentary Democracy in Russia at a Crossroads, Shugo Minagawa
- The Federation Council and Representation of Regional Interests
- The Federation Council and Representation of Regional Interests
- Status and Powers of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
- McFaul, Michael. Russia's Unfinished Revolution. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.
- Herspring, Dale R. Putin's Russia. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2005.
- Official Website of the Federation Council (English)
- Official Website of the Federation Council (Russian)
- Official Website of the Chairman of the Federation Council(English)