Capital: Moscow
Government type: Federation
Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993

Chief of State: President Dmitry Medvedev
Cabinet: "Government" (Pravitelstvo) composed of the Premier and his deputies, ministers, and other agency heads; all are appointed by the President

Executive branch: chief of state: President
Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president since 31 December 1999, president since 7 May 2000)
note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a Security Council also reports directly to the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 14 March 2004 (next to be held NA March 2008); note - no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputy, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president
head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5 March 2004); Deputy Premier Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004)
election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN reelected president; percent of vote - Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN 71.2%, Nikolay KHARITONOV 13.7%, other (no candidate above 5%) 15.1%

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats; as of July 2000, members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units - oblasts, krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; 225 seats elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 5% of the vote, and 225 seats from single-member constituencies; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held NA December 2007)
election results: State Duma - percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats - United Russia 37.1%, CPRF 12.7%, LDPR 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%; seats by party - United Russia 222, CPRF 53, LDPR 38, Motherland 37, People's Party 19, Yabloko 4, Union of Rightist Forces 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election required 3

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Superior Court of Arbitration; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president

Population: 143,782,338 (July 2004 est.)  Up to 70 different ethnic groups

Age structure: -14 years: 15% (male 11,064,109; female 10,518,595)
15-64 years: 71.3% (male 49,534,076; female 52,958,107)
65 years and over: 13.7% (male 6,177,580; female 13,529,871) (2004 est.)

Official languages: Russian (in many Federal Administrative Units, local language(s) + Russian)

Religions: Christian (predominantly Russian Orthodox, small number of Protestants and Roman Catholics), Muslim, Judaist, Lama Buddhism, animist/shamanist, other

Administrative Units of the Federation: Within the Federation there are 89 Federal Administrative Units (FAU):

• 21 republics (respublika)
• 6 territories (kray)
• 49 provinces (oblast)
• 1 autonomous region (avtonomnaya oblast)
• 10 autonomous districts (avtonomnyy okrug)
• 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg; for other cities, the Federal Administrative Unit is the region where they are located)

According to the Russian Constitution of 12 December 1993, Russia has three tiers of government: the Federal Government, the Federal Administrative Units, and, below the Federal Administrative Units, the district municipal authorities (rayony).

All FAUs are geographically separate areas, with their own Government, legislation, flag, anthem and emblems.

The FAUs can conclude agreements, which can alter the general division of competence between themselves and the Federal Government.

Members of the Federal Administrative Units serve four-year terms.

Although Art. 5 of the Russian Constitution declares that all FAUs have equal rights, they are not equal in reality, as the republics rank higher than the other Federal Administrative Units:

• the republics are states, while the other FAUs are only state-like constructs;
• the republics have their own constitutions, while the other FAUs have only a statute;
• the republics are headed by a president and the other FAUs by a governor;
• the republics - unlike the other FAUs - have their own citizenship and the right to designate their own official language; and finally,
• the republics have a broader freedom of decision in some fields of politics than do the other FAUs.

Administrative divisions: 49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik, singular - respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous oblast(avtonomnaya oblast')
: oblasts: Amurskaya (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'skaya, Astrakhanskaya, Belgorodskaya, Bryanskaya, Chelyabinskaya, Chitinskaya, Irkutskaya, Ivanovskaya, Kaliningradskaya, Kaluzhskaya, Kamchatskaya (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovskaya, Kirovskaya, Kostromskaya, Kurganskaya, Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Lipetskaya, Magadanskaya, Moskovskaya, Murmanskaya, Nizhegorodskaya, Novgorodskaya, Novosibirskaya, Omskaya, Orenburgskaya, Orlovskaya (Orel), Penzenskaya, Permskaya, Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya, Ryazanskaya, Sakhalinskaya (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samarskaya, Saratovskaya, Smolenskaya, Sverdlovskaya (Yekaterinburg), Tambovskaya, Tomskaya, Tul'skaya, Tverskaya, Tyumenskaya, Ul'yanovskaya, Vladimirskaya, Volgogradskaya, Vologodskaya, Voronezhskaya, Yaroslavskaya
: republics: Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Nazran'), Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya (Elista), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Khakasiya (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), Sakha (Yakutiya), Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya [North Ossetia] (Vladikavkaz), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
: federal cities: Moskva (Moscow), Sankt-Peterburg (Saint Petersburg)
: autonomous oblast: Yevreyskaya; note - when using a place name with an adjectival ending 'skaya' or 'skiy,' the word Oblast' or Avonomnyy Okrug or Kray should be added to the place name
: krays: Altayskiy (Barnaul), Khabarovskiy, Krasnodarskiy, Krasnoyarskiy, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'skiy
: autonomous okrugs: Aginskiy Buryatskiy (Aginskoye), Chukotskiy (Anadyr'), Evenkiyskiy (Tura), Khanty-Mansiyskiy (Khanty-Mansiysk), Koryakskiy (Palana), Nenetskiy (Nar'yan-Mar), Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar), Taymyrskiy (Dudinka), Ust'-Ordynskiy Buryatskiy (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenetskiy (Salekhard)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

The Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov, elected for a four-year term, is also the head of the Moscow Government.

The status of Moscow as the Capital of the Russian Federation and an individual Federal Administrative Unit is determined by the federal law On the Status of the City of Moscow and the Moscow Charter. The Moscow Charter is the main law of Moscow which defines the territorial division of Moscow, its administrative arrangement, legal background and various democracy issues. 

As a Federal Administrative Unit, Moscow has institutions of local government, including local executive authority and elected legislature, as well as its own city emblem, flag and anthem.

The Executive power in the City of Moscow is represented by the Government of Moscow and various structures of the City administration. and various structures of the City administration.

The functions of Legislative power are performed by the Moscow City Duma. In addition to Russian Federal Law, the City of Moscow has its own legal framework, some of which is written to facilitate trade and attract foreign investment.  Noteworthy are the facts that:

• Moscow receives most of Russia’s foreign direct investment (nearly 67% of Russia’s FDI has been invested in Moscow since 1994);
• Moscow collects up to 80% of Russia’s taxes and contributes about 30% of the Federal budget;
• Moscow accumulates nearly 85% of all Russia’s financial resources;
• Moscow is a huge consumer market, accounting for nearly 28% of total Russian goods turnover.

The Moscow administrative system, based on geographical division, includes 10 administrative districts (okrugs), each of the administrative districts being subdivided into local municipalities (rayons), 123 in total. The 10 administrative districts are:

Each administrative district is governed by its Prefect appointed by the Mayor.

The Prefect is responsible for the implementation and co-ordination of the social and economic development programmes within his/ her administrative district and co-ordinates the work of the Heads of Upravas. The Prefect directly reports to the Mayor as well as to the Moscow Government, on the issues within its competence.

The Prefect has the right to delegate some of his powers to the Heads of Upravas provided the latter have the financial resources and logistics to realise such powers.

The Prefect’s office (the Prefecture) may establish the Prefecture branches and subdivisions or delegate some of its responsibilities to the local municipalities (Upravas). The activity of the Prefecture and its branches is monitored by the Prefecture Council (Sovyet). The Prefect is a member of the Moscow Government.

The main administration authority of local municipalities is its administrative board, or the Uprava. Each Uprava is represented by its local council (rayonnoye sobraniye) and the Head of the Uprava, who is also the head of the council and the chief authority of the local municipality. The Head of Uprava is elected by the council, in a universal vote by secret ballot, for a two-year term.

The scope of the Uprava’s responsibilities covers the economic and social issues of its area, such as:

• budget and finance
• housing and utilities
• social benefits for the elderly, disabled and other disadvantaged groups
• establishment of various commissions and inspections
• logistics for local elections etc.

The council represents the people of the district and consists of the members of the council (sovyetniks) and the Head of the Uprava. The members of the council are elected by the people of the district. The number of the council members depends on the number of people living in the district and is decided upon by the Moscow City Duma. The members’ term of the office is two years.

Economy

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.282 trillion (2003 est.)

Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts

Currency: Russian ruble (RUR)

Exchange rates: Russian rubles per US dollar - 28,665 (November 2004), 30.692 (2003), 31.3485 (2002), 29.1685 (2001), 28.1292 (2000), 24.6199 (1999)
note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles