The Constitution of the Russian Federation

Section 1.

Chapter 1.The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System

Article 11

1. In the Russian Federation the State power is enforced by the President of the Russian Federation together with the Government and the courts and by the Federal Assembly divided into the Federation Council and the State Duma (of the country).


2. On the territories of subjects of the Russian Federation the State power is enforced by public authorities working on the same territories.


3. Demarcation of competence and delegation of powers between the public authorities of the Russian Federation and of the subjects (of the country) is enforced by this Constitution, Federative and other Contracts on demarcation of competence and delegation of powers.

Article 12

Local self-government shall be recognized and guaranteed in the Russian Federation. Local self-government operates independently within the bounds of its authority. Local self-governing bodies shall not be part of the public authorities system.

Article 13

1. Ideological diversity shall be in the Russian Federation.


2. There is no ideology (in the Russian Federation) that can be instituted as

a state-sponsored or mandatory one.

1. Political plurality and the multi-party system shall be recognized in the

Russian Federation.

1. Public associations are equal before the law.


2. Establishment and activities of public associations shall be prohibited if aims

and activities of the said organizations are directed at forcible alteration of fundamentals of constitutional system and  violation of integrity of the Russian Federation, undermining national security, military formations establishment and incitement of social, racial, national or religious hatred.

Article 14

1. The Russian Federation is a secular state. No religion can be instituted as

a state-sponsored or mandatory one.

1. Religious associations shall be separated from the State and shall be equal before the law.

Article 15

1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation shall have supreme legal force and shall be used on the whole territory of the country. The said Constitution shall also have direct force. Laws or other legal acts adopted in the Russian Federation shall not contradict the said Constitution.


2. The public authorities, the local self-governing bodies, the administrative officials, the citizens and the members of associations shall observe the Constitution and the laws of the Russian Federation.


3. The laws shall be liable for official publication. The unpublished laws are not used. Any regulatory legal acts in which rights, freedoms and obligations of persons and citizens are concerned can not be used if the said acts did not undergo the official publication for general public.


4. Universally recognized standards of international law and international conventions of the Russian Federation are components of the legal system of the said country. If international conventions of the Russian Federation dictate regulations different from those prescribed by the law , said regulations shall be used.

Article 16

1. Provisions of this Chapter of the Constitution form the fundamentals of the

constitutional system of the Russian Federation. The said provisions can be changed precisely in accordance with the procedures established by this Constitution.

1. No other provisions of this Constitution shall contradict the fundamentals of

the constitutional system of the Russian Federation.