Should we see the effect of their isolation, or of the power of Vladimir Putin’s power in Moscow? In any case, it is a fact: Russia may well be the largest country in the world with its 17 million km² surface, obsessing all minds since the invasion of Ukraine, it is the great unknown of the international community.
Therefore, we often ignore that Russia, like the United States, Germany or even Switzerland, is a federal state – the Russian Federation. Administrative mastodon of complex operation, articulating within it some twenty republics, some forty regions, territories or autonomous districts.
• How is the Federation made up?
“Twenty republics”, “forty regions”. You will have noticed that the numbers float a bit. It is that, since the beginning of October, and the unilateral annexation by Russia of the occupied Ukrainian provinces, the matter depends on the point of view. Before the war, there were 22 republics and 46 regions – “oblasts“. From the Russian side, four Ukrainian territories are now added to the set: the Lugansk and Donestk “people’s republics”, bringing the total to 24, and the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, to the tune of 48 oblasts.
This squad still needs to be paid for nine administrative territories, an autonomous Jewish region -Birobidjan (in the far east of the country)-, three cities of federal importance (in this case Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol) and four autonomous districts. with hybrid status. In total, 89 federated entities, baptized “subjects of the federation” in local official texts.
If the Russian Federation is so little known, it may be because it does not resemble the federal states more familiar to the Western public. “Some specialists have spoken of a ‘federation without federalism'”, summarizes the geographer Jean Radvanyi, author among others of a Geopolitical Atlas of the Caucasus and co-author of Russia, a vertigo of power to be published in February.
Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin, a specialist in the Russian constitution, agrees: “Russian federalism is atypical. It is ‘asymmetric’.” ‘Republic’ refers to a degree of decentralization greater than that of the oblasts“, illustrates the professor of public law at the University of Clermont Auvergne. To the point of arousing some internal jealousy: “This advantage is also disputed by regions that have threatened to declare themselves republics”, comments Jean Radvanyi.
“The current division reflects the historical evolution of Russia,” says Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin. “It reflects Russia’s heritage from the tsars, but also the border changes made during the Soviet period…”
Without going back to Imperial Russia or the Soviets, we can at least dwell on the new state that emerged from the rubble of the USSR in the early 1990s. Major players in the regime’s collapse, the former Soviet republics demonstrated their desire to emancipation. in front of Moscow. Some are breaking with this tutelage in full independence – like the Baltic countries or Ukraine, for example – while others are demanding more and more autonomy, without breaking with the break. We speak then of a “parade of sovereignties.”
In response to the most pressing issues, Russian President Boris Yeltsin concludes treaty after treaty, making deals with each one. An “à la carte federalism”, according to the expression of the specialists, which seeks to save what can be saved by granting much greater freedom to these restless territories. This deep but crazy decentralization even leads some republics to describe themselves as “sovereign states” in their respective constitutions.
Starting in the 2000s, the change in environment is drastic. “Putin has sought to restore order from above through a series of reforms, with the aim of preventing the explosion of Russian federalism. Measures will be taken to bring these republics back online, ”Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin introduces, before listing:“ We denounce the treaties negotiated by Yeltsin, we adapt his constitution to the federal constitution.
• What do these entities have in common?
“Each entity has its local parliament, a local government and a local president”, underlines Jean Radvanyi. But if he is elected, he can only be with the support of “United Russia”, Vladimir Putin’s party. In addition, this President of the Republic is renamed “Head of the Republic”.
“This semantic change is part of the dynamic of a strengthening of ‘vertical power’, of centralization, analyzes Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin. “This diminishes the importance of this actor.”
On the other hand, the lawyer points out that the particularity of the members of the Federation survives in the law: “Each of the republics has its constitution, and most have a constitutional court.”
Always under the supervision of Moscow, which created an additional stratum in the higher civil service – plenipotentiary representatives of the President of the Russian Federation in the regions. “In fact, they are super-prefects, in a way, at the head of the eight federal districts, a division that encompasses the 89 entities, like a parallel map that is superimposed on the administrative map,” describes Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin.
• What are your skills compared to Moscow?
Two articles of the constitution of the Russian Federation determine what depends on the center and on the peripheries. “Article 71 defines the exclusive competences of the Russian Federation: defense, security, territorial integrity, international relations”, explains Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin first.
“Article 72 defines the joint powers, that is, it lists the areas shared by the central power and the federative entities,” continues the lawyer: “For example, there is the guarantee of rights and freedoms, the rights of minorities, the education, health, culture, fiscal policy…”
In practice, it is up to the federal state to set the course and to the federal entities to adhere to it, that is, to implement, at their level, the decisions made at the top. In case of controversy, there is a body to reaffirm the primacy of the law of the Federation: the Federal Constitutional Court.
Within this limited framework, the federal entities still have room for maneuver. They can legislate in what concerns them… at least, as long as the two cited articles are silent. “It is, by default, what does not depend on central power or shared powers, therefore, essentially matters of local interest”, sums up Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin.
• What is your role within the Federation?
Within a long history and in such a vast Russian land that mixes dissimilar peoples, these territories are above all so many fragments of a mosaic of nationalities and heritages. “Republics have, above all, a function of representing minorities in a territory, and a quite sensitive cultural autonomy”, points out Jean Radvanyi, the geographer, also insisting on “the strong national identity” that each one embodies.
In fact, millions of men and women are not only Russian: they are also Circassians, Bashkirs or Yakuts. And the administrative network gives visibility to these ethnic groups. “Russian law recognizes the existence of ethnic minorities, recognizes the possibility of protecting what are called ‘small indigenous peoples,’” adds Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin.
The lawyer evokes the example of Soviet passports, where everyone could mention their ethnicity. “It still exists in Russia today,” he recalls. “Article 26.1 of the Russian Constitution states that every person has the right to determine and indicate his national affiliation, but no one can be forced to do so.”
The State summit reserves one last place for this diversity: the Federation Council. This is the upper house of the Russian Parliament where 178 personalities sit, including two representatives from each federated entity, one representing the local executive and the other its legislative counterpart.
Since the 2020 constitutional revision, former presidents of the Russian Federation can be members for life. In addition, the place must have at least 30 representatives of the Russian Federation itself, seven of whom – appointed by the president of the country – will also serve there for life.
Although this Russian-style “Senate” is taking on an increasingly decorative role, it retains its institutional importance. “He is involved, for example, in the procedures for the appointment and dismissal of the judges of the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court, as well as now the presidents of these two high courts,” explains Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin.
• Is Chechnya an exception?
Therefore, the federal entities still have their (little) voice in Moscow. But the collegiality of the Federation Council condemns them to a form of anonymity. However, a republic asserts its uniqueness on the world stage, to the point of asserting its identity, independently of that of the Federation to which, however, it is attached: the Chechen Republic.
“Chechnya is an exception because Ramzan Kadyrov has obtained full powers,” explains Jean Radvanyi. “Kadyrov supports the Kremlin’s policy and, in return, is not worried about its practices,” Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin develops.
• Do they still have a future?
Beyond the particular Chechen case, this tug of war well illustrates the logic of the Federation, according to the researcher: “There is a lot of pragmatism. Measures are taken when there is a risk to territorial integrity”.
Finally we touch on the issue located at the heart of the recession that Russia is currently experiencing at war, and the political unrest that is looming there. “In a period of tension and weakening of the central state, the emancipation of these regions is a real risk,” concludes geographer Jean Radvanyi.
It is true that, despite the defeats on the Ukrainian front and the bogging down of its troops in the Donbass, despite the failures of “partial mobilization” and occasional political disputes, neither the collapse of the Kremlin’s authority nor the breaking off. of the Russian Federation are on the agenda. And probably no more on the agenda afterwards.
But let us remember that the empire of the czars collapsed in a few days in the winter of 1917, and that of the soviets suddenly disappeared in 1991, reeling even the “Kremlinologists”, despite two years of agony for the communist bloc. Russia has nothing more to prove when it comes to hiding the severity of their injuries.
Source: BFM TV
