Darya Melekhova on Vesti.FM: the Russian Constitution has relieved tensions between the center and subjects

After the collapse of the USSR, in the new historical conditions, Russia, like other Soviet republics, declared its independence. In the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR, a new name was fixed - the Russian Federation - and the need to adopt a new Constitution was also stated there, an analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza, Darya Melekhova said in the National Question program on Vesti.FM.

The expert noted that the changed internal political situation in the country required a new basic law that would reflect the fundamental changes that have occurred in the state. "In this transitional period, the desire for independence intensified in a number of Russian regions, primarily in the autonomous republics. The crisis in the center activated centrifugal tendencies that arose during perestroika," she said.

"In the early 1990s, the subjects of the Russian Federation had different levels of social and economic development. Some regional elites sought to establish full control over the resources of their regions. The regions entered into direct relations with foreign companies, ignoring Russian legislation. In some regions, separatism acquired a particularly serious influence, ” the expert told about the situation during the adoption of the current Constitution.

The analyst noted that the Constitution secured the status of a federal state for Russia. "Federalism was recognized as one of the main directions of the democratization of the state. Russia has ceased to be unitary and has acquired the features of a constitutional-treaty federation," she said. Darya Melekhova also pointed out that the Constitution laid down the basic principles and general rules for the construction of a federal state, including the state integrity of the country, the supremacy of the federal Constitution throughout the republic, the unity of the check and balances.

"The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 recognized the equality of all peoples and subjects of the federation. The certainty of the powers of the center and the regions strengthened the country and legally united it. The Constitution successfully fulfilled the role of a stabilizer," the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza concluded.