ministrative center name following in
parentheses)

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Russia Day, 12 June (1990)

Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993

Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of
legislative acts

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich
PUTIN (acting president since 31 December 1999, president since 7
May 2000)

head of government: Premier Mikhail Mikhaylovich KASYANOV (since 7
May 2000); First Deputy Premier Aleksey Leonidovich KUDRIN (since 18
May 2000), Deputy Premiers Aleksey Vasilyevich GORDEYEV (since 20
May 2000), Viktor Borisovich KHRISTENKO (since 31 May 1999), Ilya
Iosifovich KLEBANOV (since 31 May 1999), Valentina Ivanovna
MATVIYENKO (since 22 September 1998)

cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of
the premier and his deputies, ministers, and other agency heads; all
are appointed by the president

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 26 March 2000 (next to be held NA 2004); 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

election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN elected president;
percent of vote - PUTIN 52.9%, Gennadiy Aadreyevich ZYUGANOV 29.2%,
Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY 5.8%

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; half elected by proportional representation from party lists
winning at least 5% of the vote,