Editing Politics of Russia (section)

===Presidential powers===
Russia's president determines the basic direction of Russia's domestic and foreign policy and represents the Russian state within the country and in [[Foreign relations of Russia|foreign affairs]]. The president appoints and recalls Russia's ambassadors upon consultation with the legislature, accepts the [[credential]]s and letters of recall of foreign representatives, conducts international talks, and signs international treaties. A special provision allowed Yeltsin to complete the term prescribed to end in June 1996 and to exercise the powers of the new constitution, although he had been elected under a different constitutional order.

In the 1996 presidential election campaign, some candidates called for eliminating the presidency, criticizing its powers as dictatorial. Yeltsin defended his presidential powers, claiming that Russians desire "a vertical power structure and a strong hand" and that a parliamentary government would result in indecisive talk rather than action.

Several prescribed powers put the president in a superior position vis-à-vis the legislature. The president has broad authority to [[Decree of the President of Russia|issue decrees and directives]] that have the force of law without [[judicial review]], although the constitution notes that they must not contravene that document or other laws. Under certain conditions, the president may [[Dissolving parliament#Russia|dissolve the State Duma]], the [[lower house]] of parliament, the [[Federal Assembly of Russia|Federal Assembly]]. The president has the prerogatives of scheduling [[referendum]]s (a power previously reserved to the parliament), submitting draft laws to the State Duma, and [[sign into law|promulgating]] [[federal law]]s.

The executive-legislative crisis of the fall of 1993 prompted Yeltsin to emplace constitutional obstacles to legislative removal of the president. Under the 1993 constitution, if the president commits "grave crimes" or treason, the State Duma may file impeachment charges with the parliament's upper house, the Federation Council. These charges must be confirmed by a ruling of the Supreme Court that the president's actions constitute a crime and by a ruling of the Constitutional Court that proper procedures in filing charges have been followed. The charges then must be adopted by a special commission of the State Duma and confirmed by at least two-thirds of State Duma deputies.

A two-thirds vote of the Federation Council is required for removal of the president. If the Federation Council does not act within three months, the charges are dropped. If the president is removed from office or becomes unable to exercise power because of serious illness, the prime minister is to temporarily assume the president's duties; a presidential election then must be held within three months. The constitution does not provide for a vice president, and there is no specific procedure for determining whether the president is able to carry out his duties.

[[File:Moscow march for Nemtsov 2015-03-01 5128.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia|Russian opposition]] protest in Moscow, 1 March 2015]]
The president is empowered to appoint the prime minister to chair the Government (called the cabinet or the council of ministers in other countries), with the consent of the State Duma. The President of the Russian Federation chairs the meetings of the Government of the Russian Federation. He can also dismiss the government entirely. Upon the advice of the prime minister, the president can appoint or remove Government members, including the deputy prime ministers.

The president submits candidates to the State Duma for the post of chairman of the [[Central Bank of the Russian Federation]] (RCB) and may propose that the State Duma dismiss the chairman. In addition, the president submits candidates to the Federation Council for appointment as justices of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the High Court of Arbitration, as well as candidates for the office of procurator general, Russia's chief law enforcement officer. The president also appoints justices of federal district courts.

====Informal powers and power centers====
Many of the president's powers are related to the incumbent's undisputed leeway in forming an administration and hiring staff. The [[Russian presidential administration|presidential administration]] is composed of several competing, overlapping, and vaguely delineated hierarchies that historically have resisted efforts at consolidation. In early 1996, Russian sources reported the size of the presidential apparatus in Moscow and the localities at more than 75,000 people, most of them employees of state-owned enterprises directly under presidential control. This structure is similar to, but several times larger than, the top-level apparatus of the Soviet-era [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU).

Former first deputy prime minister [[Anatoly Chubais]] was appointed chief of the presidential administration (chief of staff) in July 1996. Chubais replaced [[Nikolai Yegorov|Nikolay Yegorov]], a hard-line associate of deposed Presidential Security Service chief [[Alexander Korzhakov]]. Yegorov had been appointed in early 1996, when Yeltsin reacted to the strong showing of antireform factions in the legislative election by purging reformers from his administration. Yeltsin now ordered Chubais, who had been included in that purge, to reduce the size of the administration and the number of departments overseeing the functions of the ministerial apparatus.

The six administrative departments in existence at that time dealt with citizens' rights, domestic and foreign policy, state and legal matters, personnel, analysis, and oversight, and Chubais inherited a staff estimated at 2,000 employees. Chubais also received control over a presidential advisory group with input on the economy, national security, and other matters. Reportedly that group had competed with Korzhakov's security service for influence in the Yeltsin administration.

Another center of power in the presidential administration is the Security Council, which was created by statute in mid-1992. The 1993 constitution describes the council as formed and headed by the president and governed by statute. Since its formation, it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centers in the presidential administration. However, the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate [[Alexander Lebed]] to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organization's standing. In July 1996, a [[Decree of the President of Russia|presidential decree]] assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions. The decree's description of the Security Council's consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging, although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president. As had been the case previously, the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month.

Other presidential support services include the Control Directorate (in charge of investigating official corruption), the Administrative Affairs Directorate, the Presidential Press Service, and the Protocol Directorate. The Administrative Affairs Directorate controls [[Gosdacha|state dachas]], sanatoriums, automobiles, office buildings, and other perquisites of high office for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, a function that includes management of more than 200 state industries with about 50,000 employees. The Committee on Operational Questions, until June 1996 chaired by antireformist [[Oleg Soskovets]], has been described as a "government within a government". Also attached to the presidency are more than two dozen consultative commissions and extrabudgetary "funds".

The president also has extensive powers over military policy. As the [[Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation]], the president approves defense doctrine, appoints and removes the high command of the armed forces, and confers higher military ranks and awards. The president is empowered to declare national or regional states of [[martial law]], as well as [[state of emergency]]. In both cases, [[bicameralism|both houses]] of the [[Federal Assembly of Russia|parliament]] must be notified immediately. The Federation Council, the [[upper house]], has the power to confirm or reject such a decree.

The regime of martial law is defined by federal law "On Martial law", [[signed into law]] by [[President of Russia|president]] Vladimir Putin in 2002. The circumstances and procedures for the president to declare a state of emergency are more specifically outlined in federal law than in the constitution. In practice, the Constitutional Court ruled in 1995 that the president has wide leeway in responding to crises within Russia, such as lawlessness in the separatist [[Chechnya|Republic of Chechnya]], and that Yeltsin's action in Chechnya did not require a formal declaration of a state of emergency. In 1994 Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in [[Ingushetia]] and [[North Ossetia]], two republics beset by intermittent ethnic conflict.