zkskaya, Kamchatskaya
(Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk)*,
Kareliya (Petrozavodsk)*, Kemerovskaya, Khabarovskiy***, Khakasiya
(Abakan)*, Khanty-Mansiyskiy (Khanty-Mansiysk)**, Kirovskaya, Komi
(Syktyvkar)*, Koryakskiy (Palana)**, Kostromskaya, Krasnodarskiy***,
Krasnoyarskiy***, Kurganskaya, Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Lipetskaya,
Magadanskaya, Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola)*, Mordoviya (Saransk)*,
Moskovskaya, Moskva****, Murmanskaya, Nenetskiy (Nar'yan-Mar)**,
Nizhegorodskaya, Novgorodskaya, Novosibirskaya, Omskaya,
Orenburgskaya, Orlovskaya (Orel), Penzenskaya, Permskaya,
Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar)**, Primorskiy (Vladivostok)***,
Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya, Ryazanskaya, Sakha (Yakutsk)*, 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 Ingushetiya 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 Sergey Vladilenovich KIRIYENKO (since 23 March 1998),
Deputy Premiers and Deputy Chairmen of the Government Viktor
Borisovich KHRISTENKO (since 28 April 1998), Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV
(since 28 April 1998), Oleg Nikolayevich SYSUYEV (