Russian President and local self-government: the evolution of relationships
Authors: Dityatkovsky M. Yu. 
Published: October 2021

The subject. An attempt is made to analyze the evolution of the relationship between the Russian Presidents and local self-government in modern Russia over the past 30 years.

The methodology of the research is based on the application of the historical method and the method of comparative legal analysis of normative legal acts of the Russian Federation of different years.

The purpose of the article is to confirm or dispute hypothesis that the President's relations with local self-government developed non-linearly and contradictory on the different stages.

The main results, scope of application. The paper examines the dynamics of the relationship between the Russian Presidents and local self-government, determines the five stages of the development of such relations and their characteristic features, as well as the prospects for these relations after the adoption of amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020.

Stage 1. The absence of specific regulatory legal provisions on the participation of the President in local self-government issues and the actual practice of their interaction (July 1991 – October 1993).

Stage 2. Arbitrary or authoritarian President’s participation in local self-government issues (October 1993 – August 1995). This stage is connected with the period of the constitutional crisis of 1993 and is characterized, first of all, by two decrees of the Russian President directly changing the provisions of the Law of the Russian Federation on Local Self-Government of 1991.

Stage 3. Bringing the powers of the President in the field of local self-government in accordance with the Russian Constitution of 1993, the approval by the President of the main directions of state policy in the field of local self – government development in the Russian Federation, the creation of the Council for Local Self-Government under the President of the Russian Federation (August 1995 – August 2000).

Stage 4. Strengthening the role of the President in the field of local self-government. The beginning of this stage is connected with the coming to power of the new Russian President (August 2000 – July 2020). So far, this is the longest stage in our chronology. This stage is characterized by additional regulation by the President of certain point issues in the field of organization and implementation of local self-government, directly provided for by federal law. Stage 5. The integration of local self-government bodies into a single system of public power and the receipt by the Russian President of hidden, virtually unlimited powers in the field of local self-government (from July 2020 to the present). The starting point of this stage was the adoption of amendments to the Russian Constitution in 2020.

Conclusions. The interaction between the Russian President and local self-government developed in a zigzag pattern: from the complete absence of contacts to the direct intervention of the Russian President in the legal regulation of relations in the field of local self– government, violating and actually canceling the legislative regulation of these relations in 1993-1995. From bringing these relations into line with the Russian Constitution of 1993, which proclaimed the organizational independence of local self-government, to strengthening the role of the Russian President and regulating certain issues in the field of organization and implementation of local self-government. The expansion of the powers of the Russian President in connection with the amendments to the Russian Constitution in 2020 actually means an aside from the organizational independence of local self-government and the integration of local self-government bodies into a single system of public authorities. In this regard, the question arises: do the above amendments mean an actual return to the second stage of the development of relations between the Russian President and local selfgovernment in the period of 1993-1995, when the use of "hidden (implied)" powers of the President was allowed, and, consequently, theoretically unlimited participation of the Russian President in local self-government issues?