The Constitutional Court has entered history

On Sunday afternoon, the Constitutional Court (CC) published four resolutions, which recognized international treaties on the admission of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR), as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, to the Russian Federation as consistent with the Constitution. The main motive for signing these documents was considered by the Constitutional Court to save the lives of the inhabitants of four regions, because “human life is the most sacred thing on Earth,” chairman of the court Valery Zorkin explained to journalists. In the evening of the same day, the president submitted these treaties for ratification to the State Duma, along with four bills on the accession of new subjects to Russia.

As in the case of the 2014 agreement on the admission of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, the Constitutional Court considered international treaties that had not entered into force without holding public hearings. The Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, noted that the court decisions (a separate decision was adopted for each agreement) followed fairly quickly, and this could even cause surprise. But two circumstances predisposed to this, he explained to reporters: “The development of events itself, quite tense, and the fact that we had earlier experience in resolving this issue – I mean the decision in connection with the entry into the Russian Federation of the Republic of Crimea and the city Sevastopol”.

Indeed, in terms of assessing the procedure for signing, concluding and enacting international treaties, the Constitutional Court actually repeated the arguments that it used in 2014.

The court also emphasized that it evaluates not the political, but the legal component of the documents. However, this time the Constitutional Court also considered it necessary to record the actual circumstances of the case, based on the assessment that had previously been given to these circumstances by the signatories of the agreement. According to the court, this is justified, since the facts are “obvious and indisputable”, and also “reliably confirm the validity of the relevant assessments of the situation”.

In particular, it is noted in the resolutions of the Constitutional Court, “in the context of an acute socio-economic and political crisis, as well as the establishment of de facto external control by the collective West, the Ukrainian authorities have pursued and continue to pursue a targeted policy that prevents those citizens who identify themselves as belonging to the Russian people to preserve their national, linguistic, religious and cultural identity.” And the military policy of Ukraine also manifested itself in the preparation for the next offensive against the DPR and LPR using weapons and military advisers received from a number of countries, which created a direct threat to the Russian Federation, the court emphasizes.

Under the circumstances, the CC notes, and after the official request for assistance from the DPR and LPR, our country “was forced to launch a pre-emptive special military operation,” which in fact represents Russia’s exercise of its inalienable right to self-defense. During this operation, “significant territories were liberated”, the population of which is also “intentioned to exercise the right to self-determination outside Ukraine,” the Constitutional Court’s resolution emphasizes. However, the Ukrainian authorities do not stop trying to return these territories by force, which leads to harm to the life and health of citizens, and also entails the risk of cross-border disasters.

Thus, Valery Zorkin explained to journalists, the Constitutional Court recognized the treaties as in accordance with the Constitution, primarily on the basis that there is a direct threat to the lives of the population of the regions.

And “human life is the most sacred thing on Earth”, stressed the chairman of the Constitutional Court. In such a situation, the inhabitants of these regions had the right to use the principles of international law and declare their independence, Mr. Zorkin is sure.

Mentioned in the court’s rulings are “reproaches for violating the existing international borders of another state” made by “a number of countries.” But they, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, should be assessed taking into account both the above-mentioned circumstances and “the competition of this principle known in international legal practice with the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples and with the right to self-defense.”

In response to a question from journalists about whether any of the judges expressed a dissenting opinion on this decision, Valery Zorkin recalled that, under the new law on the Constitutional Court, such opinions are not subject to disclosure. But just in case, he clarified: “I don’t want my answer to be interpreted as if there were corresponding protests against it.”

As Olga Kryazhkova, associate professor at the Russian State University of Justice, notes, all four decisions of the Constitutional Court are almost identical. And their content is not much different from the resolution on Crimea in 2014, except for the impressive entry in which the Constitutional Court justifies the need for a special operation and the annexation of new territories, the expert adds.

Almost identical are the treaties themselves, submitted on October 2 by the president for ratification in the State Duma.

As in the case of the annexation of Crimea, all four new subjects are considered accepted into the Russian Federation from the date of signing the agreements, and a transitional period is introduced for integration with Russia, which will last until January 1, 2026. The boundaries of the territory of the regions are determined by the boundaries that existed “on the day of their formation and the day they were accepted into the Russian Federation.” Residents of new regions automatically receive Russian citizenship, but within a month they have the right to declare their desire to “retain their other citizenship or remain stateless”. The DPR and LPR are included in Russia as republics with the same names, their leaders will be called the heads of the republics. Zaporozhye and Kherson regions will retain the status of regions, and their leaders will be called governors. The President of the Russian Federation must appoint the acting heads of the four new regions within ten days from the date of accession, and the elections of their leaders and legislative bodies will be held on the next single voting day in September 2023.

Valery Zorkin did not rule out that this time the transition period could be accompanied by serious problems, the resolution of which would require additional efforts. In particular, the Constitutional Court found it necessary directly in the text of its decisions to provide for the possibility of resolving the issue of exempting from liability those residents of the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation who do military service in the armed forces of Ukraine and, for obvious reasons, cannot now leave it “without risk to life.” At the same time, the Constitutional Court makes a reservation, this is possible “if they did not commit crimes during this service.”

Simultaneously with the agreements, Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma drafts of four federal constitutional laws on the adoption of new subjects in the Russian Federation. They clarify and detail some of the norms of the relevant agreements, and also describe in detail the procedure for integrating regions into the Russian Federation.

For example, the bills state that residents of all four territories (including those who have emigrated to Russia) are recognized as citizens of the Russian Federation, subject to “mandatory fingerprint registration.” And persons who received a Russian passport before accepting new subjects and retained Ukrainian citizenship must first submit an application about their unwillingness to be Ukrainian citizenship. At the same time, the prohibitions on foreign citizenship for officials and deputies existing in Russian legislation will not operate during the transition period.

With regard to the functioning of the authorities in the new subjects, the draft laws provide for some differences. Thus, in the DPR and LPR, the previously elected parliaments will work until the 2023 elections as full-fledged legislative bodies: they “have the right to exercise their own legal regulation, including the adoption of laws and other regulatory legal acts that cannot contradict the Constitution” and the laws of the Russian Federation. But in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, before the election of legislative assemblies, “legal regulation can be carried out by the regulatory legal acts of the acting governor,” although only the newly elected parliaments will have the right to adopt the charters of the subjects of the Russian Federation. In addition, if the DPR and LPR will be able to delegate representatives from the executive and legislative branches to the Federation Council in the near future, then the two regions will only be able to appoint senators from acting governors.

Most of the other articles of the bills describe, as stated in the explanatory notes, the timing and procedure for integrating new regions “into the economic, financial, credit and legal systems of the Russian Federation”, as well as the related “features of the legal regulation of certain areas of public relations.” In particular, they deal with the creation of territorial subdivisions of federal executive bodies, local self-government bodies and the prosecutor’s office, courts of various levels. In addition, the documents contain rules on the procedure for using documents issued by Ukraine, guarantees of social protection of citizens for the transitional period, specifics of the application of tax and budget legislation, as well as real estate turnover, urban planning, licensing, public procurement, etc. And the draft law on the Zaporozhye region also the issues of Zaporizhzhya NPP activities are specified separately.

Recall that the State Duma will consider treaties and bills on the adoption of new subjects on October 3, and the next day they must be approved by the Federation Council. All documents will come into force after signing by the President.

Anastasia Kornya, Dmitry Kamyshev