birskaya, Omskaya,
Orenburgskaya, Penzenskaya, Permskaya, Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar)**,
Primorskiy (Vladivostok)***, Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya, Ryazanskaya,
Sakha (Yakutiya)*, Sakhalinskaya (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samarskaya,
Sankt-Peterburg****, Saratovskaya, Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya
(Vladikavkaz)*, Smolenskaya, Stavropol'skiy***, Sverdlovskaya
(Yekaterinburg), Tambovskaya, Tatarstan (Kazan')*, Taymyrskiy
(Dudinka)**, Tomskaya, Tul'skaya, Tverskaya, Tyumenskaya, Tyva
(Kyzyl)*, Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)*, Ul'yanovskaya, Ust'-Ordynskiy
Buryatskiy (Ust'-Ordynskiy)**, Vladimirskaya, Volgogradskaya,
Vologodskaya, Voronezhskaya, Yamalo-Nenetskiy (Salekhard)**,
Yaroslavskaya, 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
note : the autonomous republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia were
formerly the autonomous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary
between Chechnya and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); the cities
of Moscow and St. Petersburg are federal cities; administrative
divisions have the same names as their administrative centers
(exceptions have the administrative center name following in
parentheses)

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, June 12 (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 Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN (since 12 June
1991)
head of government: Premier and Chairman of the Russian Federation
Government Viktor Stepanovich CHERNOMYRDIN (since 14 December 1992),
First Deputy Premiers and First Deputy Chairmen of the Government
Anatoliy Borisovich CHUBAYS (since NA March 1997), Boris Y. NEMTSOV
(since NA March 1997)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" appointed by the
president
note: there is also a Presidential Administration that drafts
presidential edicts and provides staff and policy support to the
entire executive branch; a Security Council that was originally
established as a presidential advisory body in June 1991 with
responsibility for managing individual and state security; a Defense
Council and a Foreign Policy Council formed in July 1996 and October
1996 respectively
elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term;
e