ngushetia (Nazran'),
Kabardino-Balkaria (Nal'chik), Kalmykia (Elista), Karachay-Cherkessia
(Cherkessk), Karelia (Petrozavodsk), Khakassia (Abakan), Komi
(Syktyvkar), Mari El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordovia (Saransk), North Ossetia
(Vladikavkaz), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tuva (Kyzyl), Udmurtia (Izhevsk),
Yakutia (Yakutsk); 49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Amur
(Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk,
Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka
(Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk,
Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk,
Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel, Orenburg, Penza,
Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara,
Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula,
Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh,
Yaroslavl'; 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray); Altay (Barnaul),
Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok),
Stavropol'
note:
the autonomous republics of Chechenia and Ingushetia were formerly the
automous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary between
Chechenia and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); the cities of
Moscow and St. Petersburg are federal cities; an administrative
division has the same name as its administrative center (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) election
last held 12 June 1991 (next to be held 1996); results - percent of
vote by party NA%; 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, which must be held
within three months
head of government:
Premier and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Viktor Stepanovich
CHERNOMYRDIN (since 14 December 1992); First Deputy Chairman of the
Council of Ministers Oleg SOSKOVETS (since 30 April 1993)
Security C