Editing Politics of Russia (section)

==Historical background, 1924-93==
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=== The Soviet inheritance===

The [[1924 Soviet Constitution|first constitution of the Soviet Union]], as promulgated in 1924, incorporated a [[Treaty on the Creation of the USSR|treaty of union]] between various Soviet republics. Under the treaty, the [[Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic]] became known as the [[Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR). Nominally, the borders of each subunit incorporated the territory of a specific nationality. The constitution endowed the new republics with sovereignty, although they were said to have voluntarily delegated most of their sovereign powers to the Soviet center. <ref>Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution. Oxford University Press, 2008. pp. 157–159.</ref><ref>Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. Oxford University Press, 2011. pp. 281–283.</ref> Formal sovereignty was evidenced by the existence of flags, constitutions, and other state symbols, and by the republics' constitutionally guaranteed "right" to secede from the union.

Russia was the largest of the Union republics in terms of territory and population. During the [[Cold War]] era (ca 1947-1991), because of the Russians' dominance in the affairs of the union, the RSFSR failed to develop some of the institutions of governance and administration that were typical of public life in the other republics: a republic-level communist party, a Russian academy of sciences, and Russian branches of trade unions, for example. In the late 1980s, during the period of perestroika and glasnost, demands for autonomy and national rights grew across the Soviet republics. Ethnic Russians, too, began to call for the creation of distinct Russian institutions within the RSFSR, leading to a revival of Russian national identity. In 1990, the RSFSR asserted the primacy of its laws over those of the Soviet Union, signaling a significant shift toward sovereignty and eventual independence.<ref name="Suny">Suny, Ronald Grigor. ''The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union''. Stanford University Press, 1993. pp. 113–115.</ref>

===Gorbachev, 1985 - 1991===
Certain policies of Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] (in office as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] from 1985 to 1991) also encouraged nationalities in the union republics, including the Russian Republic, to assert their rights. These policies included ''[[glasnost]]'' (literally, public "voicing"), which made possible open discussion of democratic reforms and long-ignored public problems such as pollution.<ref>Brown, Archie. ''The Gorbachev Factor''. Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 137–142.</ref>
''Glasnost'' also brought constitutional reforms that led to the election of new republic legislatures with substantial blocs of pro-reform representatives.

In the RSFSR a new legislature, called the [[Congress of People's Deputies of Russia|Congress of People's Deputies]], was [[1990 Russian legislative election|elected in March 1990]] in a largely free and competitive vote. Upon convening in May, the congress elected [[Boris Yeltsin]],<ref>Remnick, David. ''Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire''. Random House, 1993, pp. 184–192.</ref> a onetime Gorbachev protégé who had resigned/been exiled from the top party echelons because of his radical reform proposals and erratic personality, as president of the congress's permanent working body, the [[Supreme Soviet of Russia|Supreme Soviet]]. The next month, the Congress [[Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|declared Russia's sovereignty]] over its natural resources and the primacy of Russia's laws over those of the central Soviet government.<ref>Sakwa, Richard. ''Russian Politics and Society''. Routledge, 1996, pp. 90–92.[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674034938]</ref>


During 1990-1991, the RSFSR enhanced its sovereignty by establishing republic branches of organizations such as the Communist Party, the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, radio and television broadcasting facilities, and the Committee for State Security (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti—[[KGB]]). In 1991 Russia created a new executive office, the [[President of Russia|presidency]], following the example of Gorbachev, who had created such an office for himself in 1990.<ref>[https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801439001/russias-unfinished-revolution/ McFaul], Michael. ''Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin''. Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 57–60.</ref>

===Yeltsin, 1991===
The [[1991 Russian presidential election|Russian presidential election]] of June 1991 conferred legitimacy on the office, whereas Gorbachev had eschewed such an election and had himself appointed by the Soviet parliament. Despite Gorbachev's attempts to discourage Russia's electorate from voting for him, Yeltsin won the popular election to become the president, handily defeating five other candidates with more than 57 percent of the vote.

Yeltsin used his role as president of Russia to trumpet Russian sovereignty and patriotism, and his legitimacy as president was a major cause of the collapse of the [[coup]] by hard-line government and party officials against Gorbachev, the [[Soviet Coup of 1991|August coup of 1991]]. The coup leaders had attempted to overthrow Gorbachev in order to halt his plan to sign a [[New Union Treaty]] that they believed would wreck the Soviet Union. Yeltsin defiantly opposed the coup plotters and called for Gorbachev's restoration, rallying the Russian public. Most importantly, Yeltsin's faction led elements in the "power ministries" that controlled the military, the police, and the KGB to refuse to obey the orders of the coup plotters. The opposition led by Yeltsin, combined with the irresolution of the plotters, caused the coup to collapse after three days.

Following the failed August coup, Gorbachev found a fundamentally changed constellation of power, with Yeltsin in ''de facto'' control of much of a sometimes recalcitrant Soviet administrative apparatus. Although Gorbachev returned to his position as Soviet president, events began to bypass him. [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] activities were suspended{{by whom|date=June 2016}}. Most of the union republics quickly declared their independence, although many appeared willing to sign Gorbachev's vaguely-delineated confederation treaty. The Baltic states achieved full independence, and they quickly received diplomatic recognition from many nations. Gorbachev's rump government recognized the independence of [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], and [[Lithuania]] in August and September 1991.

In late 1991, the Yeltsin government assumed budgetary control over Gorbachev's rump government. Russia did not declare its independence, and Yeltsin continued to hope for the establishment of some form of confederation. In December, one week after the Ukrainian Republic approved independence by referendum, Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus [[Belavezha Accords|met to form]] the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS). In response to calls by the Central Asian and other union republics for admission, another meeting took place in [[Alma-Ata]], on 21 December, to form an expanded CIS.

At that meeting, all parties declared that the 1922 treaty of union, which had established the Soviet Union, annulled and that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Gorbachev announced the decision officially on 25 December 1991. Russia gained international recognition as the principal [[Succession of states|successor]] to the Soviet Union, receiving the [[Soviet Union and the United Nations|Soviet Union's permanent seat]] on the [[United Nations Security Council]] and positions in other international and regional organizations. The CIS states also agreed that Russia initially would take over [[Foreign relations of the Soviet Union|Soviet embassies]] and other properties abroad.

In October 1991, during the "honeymoon" period after his resistance to the Soviet coup, Yeltsin had convinced the legislature to grant him special executive (and legislative) powers for one year so that he might implement his economic reforms. In November 1991 Yeltsin appointed a new government, with himself as acting prime minister, a post he held until the appointment of [[Yegor Gaidar]] as acting prime minister in June 1992.

=== Post-Soviet development under Yeltsin 1991-1993 ===
During 1992 Yeltsin and his reforms came under increasing attack from former members and officials of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], from [[Radical nationalism in Russia|extreme nationalists]], and from others calling for reform to be slowed or even halted in Russia. A locus of this opposition was increasingly the two-chamber parliament, the [[Supreme Soviet of Russia]], comprising the [[Soviet of the Republic]] and the [[Soviet of Nationalities (Supreme Soviet of Russia)|Soviet of Nationalities]]. The Chair of the Supreme Soviet, [[Ruslan Khasbulatov]], became Yeltsin's most vocal opponent. Under the [[Russian Constitution of 1978|1978 constitution]], the parliament was the supreme organ of power in Russia.

After Russia added the office of president in 1991, the division of powers between the two branches remained ambiguous, while the [[Congress of People's Deputies of Russia]] (CPD) retained its obvious power "to examine and resolve any matter within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation". In 1992 the Congress was even further empowered, gaining the ability to suspend any articles of the Constitution, per amended article 185 of the 1978 Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Federation.

Although Yeltsin managed to beat back most challenges to his reform program when the CPD met in April 1992, in December he suffered a significant loss of his special executive powers. The CPD ordered him to halt appointments of administrators in the localities and also the practice of naming additional local oversight emissaries (termed "presidential representatives"). Yeltsin also lost the power to issue special decrees concerning the economy, while retaining his constitutional power to issue [[Decree of the President of Russia|decrees]] in accordance with existing laws.

When the CPD rejected Yeltsin's attempt to secure the confirmation of Gaidar as prime minister (December 1992), Yeltsin appointed [[Viktor Chernomyrdin]], whom the parliament approved because he was viewed as more economically conservative than Gaidar. After contentious negotiations between the parliament and Yeltsin, the two sides agreed to hold a national referendum to allow the population to determine the basic division of powers between the two branches of government. In the meantime, proposals for extreme limitation of Yeltsin's power were tabled.{{by whom|date=June 2016}}

However, early 1993 saw increasing tension between Yeltsin and the parliament over the <!--language of the -->referendum and over power-sharing. In mid-March 1993, an emergency session of the CPD rejected Yeltsin's proposals on power-sharing and canceled the referendum, again opening the door to legislation that would shift the balance of power away from the president. Faced with these setbacks, Yeltsin addressed the nation directly to announce a "special regime", under which he would assume extraordinary executive power pending the results of a referendum on the timing of new legislative elections, on a new constitution, and on public confidence in the president and vice president. After the [[Constitutional Court of Russia|Constitutional Court]] declared his announcement unconstitutional, Yeltsin backed down.

Despite Yeltsin's change of heart, a second extraordinary session of the CPD took up discussion of emergency measures to defend the constitution, including impeachment of the president. Although the impeachment vote failed, the CPD set new terms for a popular referendum. The legislature's version of the referendum asked whether citizens had confidence in Yeltsin, approved of his reforms, and supported early presidential and legislative elections.

Under the CPD's terms, Yeltsin would need the support of 50 percent of eligible voters, rather than 50 percent of those actually voting, to avoid an early presidential election. In the [[1993 Russian government referendum|vote on 25 April]], Russians failed to provide this level of approval, but a majority of voters approved Yeltsin's policies and called for new legislative elections. Yeltsin termed the results, which delivered a serious blow to the prestige of the parliament, a mandate for him to continue in power.

In June 1993 Yeltsin [[Decree of the President of Russia|decreed]] the creation of a special constitutional convention to examine the draft constitution that he had presented in April. This convention was designed to circumvent the parliament, which was working on its own draft constitution. As expected, the two main drafts contained contrary views of legislative-executive relations. The convention, which included delegates from major political and social organizations and the 89 subnational jurisdictions, approved a compromise draft constitution in July 1993, incorporating some aspects of the parliament's draft. The parliament failed to approve the draft, however.

In late September 1993, Yeltsin responded to the impasse in legislative-executive relations by repeating his announcement of a constitutional referendum, but this time he followed the announcement by dissolving the parliament and announcing new legislative elections for December (''see'' [[Russian constitutional crisis of 1993]]). The CPD again met in emergency session, confirmed Vice President [[Aleksandr Rutskoy]] as president, and voted to impeach Yeltsin. On 27 September, military units surrounded the legislative building (popularly known as the [[White House (Moscow)|White House]] - {{langx |ru| Белый дом}}), but 180 delegates refused to leave the building. After a two-week standoff, Rutskoy urged supporters outside the legislative building to overcome Yeltsin's military forces. Firefights and destruction of property resulted at several locations in Moscow.

The next day, on 3 October 1993  Yeltsin chose a radical solution to settle his dispute with parliament: he called up tanks to shell the parliament building.  Under the direction of Minister of Defense [[Pavel Grachev]], tanks fired on the White House, and military forces occupied the building and the rest of the city. As Yeltsin was taking the unconstitutional step of dissolving the legislature, Russia came the closest to serious civil conflict since the revolution of 1917. This open, violent confrontation remained a backdrop to Yeltsin's relations with the legislative branch for the next three years.

===Development since 1993===
{{Main|History of Russia (1991–present)}}
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