With the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, we have assembled a team of experts to monitor the legislative activity of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. We will concentrate our attention on those issues which affect the most fundamental features of constitutional law and processes in Russia: federalism and the relations between the federal level of state power and the authority of the subjects of the federation; critical processes affecting the development of Russia as a democratic state; the rights and powers of citizens and state bodies under the constitution, including executive, legislative, and judicial institutions; and the aims and effects of efforts to harmonize legal and economic processes throughout the federation. We intend to monitor the activity of the State Duma and the Federation Council and will pay particularly close attention to the activity of the Federation Council as the new law “on the procedure for the formation of the Federation Council” takes effect.

In addition, readers can find reports on our website concerning legal and political analysis of current legislative or other topical issues which shed light on major contemporary constitutional processes; reports on the results of the work of the sessions Federation Council; and reports analyzing the development of the Federation Council since the new law on its formation took effect. Four issues - #(0)(1)(2) and (3) you can find on http://www.ilpp.ru/bulletin/

We invite your comments and suggestions via e-mail address: bulletin@ilpp.ru .

For subscribtion to the Internet version, please, contact: istomina@ilpp.ru

Sincerely,

Olga Sidorovich and Lev Ivanov

Director, ILPP Bulletin Editor