shkortostan (Ufa), Buryatia (Ulan-Ude),
Checheno-Ingushetia (Groznyy), Chuvashia (Cheboksary), Dagestan
(Makhachkala), Gorno-Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Kabardino-Balkaria (Nal`chik),
Kalmykia (Elista), Karachay-Cherkessia (Cherkessk), Karelia (Petrozavodsk),
Khakassia (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mari El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordvinia
(Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz; formerly Ordzhonikidze), Tatarstan
(Kazan'), Tuva (Kyzyl), Udmurtia (Izhevsk), Yakutia (Yakutsk); 49 oblasts
(oblastey, singular - oblast'); Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk,
Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo,
Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchata (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov,
Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Lipetsk, Magadan,
Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhegorod (Nizhniy Novgorod; formerly Gor'kiy), Novgorod,
Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel, Orenburg, Penza, Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan',
Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara (formerly Kuybyshev), Saratov,
Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver' (formerly
Kalinin), Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladmir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh,
Yaroslavl'; 6 krays (krayer, singular - kray); Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk,
Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol; note - the
cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg have oblast status; an administrative
division has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the
administrative center name following in parentheses); it is possible that 4
more administrative divisions will be added
Independence:
24 August 1991, declared by Supreme Council (from Soviet Union; formerly
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic); 1 December 1991 referendum on
independence passed
Constitution:
a new constitution is in the process of being drafted
Legal system:
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; does not
accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday:
NA
Executive branch:
president, vice president, Security Council, President's Administration,
Council of Ministers
Legislative branch:
Congress of People's Deputies, Supreme Soviet
Judicial branch:
Constitutional Court
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government:
*** No entry for this item ***
President Boris YEL'TSIN (since 12 June 1991), Vice President Aleksandr
RUTSKOY (s