The Federation Council celebrated its 30th anniversary with historical ditties and patriotic songs

On Wednesday, the Federation Council (FC) held a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the formation of the upper house of the Russian parliament. The senators recalled their work during these years, the events that preceded the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and even several ditties of that time. And at the end of the celebrations, singer Shaman congratulated the celebrants.

The ceremonial part of the plenary opened Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, who recalled that on December 12, 1993, the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by popular vote. The Federation Council also dates its history from this day. 30 years is “the age of maturity, confidence and stability,” Ms. Matvienko noted, and thanks to the “immense personal merit” of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian political system has acquired these qualities: “His contribution to the development of the country is, without exaggeration, an achievement of historical proportions, which will be remembered not only by contemporaries, but also by descendants.”

The speaker listed the “fateful decisions” made over the past years with the direct participation of the Federation Council: the return of Crimea and Sevastopol to their “native harbor”, support for the economy and citizens during the pandemic, the reunification of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions with Russia. “And, of course, one of the priorities of the senators was the work to support the armed forces, our heroes – members of the Northern Military District and members of their families,” she added.

The main advantage of the Federation Council as one of the “supporting elements of the state structure” is “direct, constant communication” with the subjects, including on issues of protecting their interests and maintaining a balance with the federal center, Valentina Matvienko emphasized.

Thanks to its “unique composition”—former governors, speakers of legislative assemblies, mayors, diplomats, scientists, teachers, doctors, builders and lawyers—the Federation Council has a “powerful and versatile intellectual resource” that helps achieve a high level of elaboration of adopted laws, the speaker concluded.

The conclusion about the high quality of the laws was immediately confirmed by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court (CC) Valery Zorkin: to date, the court has not made a single decision to declare the law as a whole unconstitutional. “This is an achievement of the legislator, and not just an indulgence of the Constitutional Court,” he assured. Moreover, out of 3.5 thousand decisions of the Constitutional Court (with 12 thousand appeals), only 60 cases dealt with the inconsistency of a number of provisions of laws adopted by parliament with the Basic Law, Mr. Zorkin added.

Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, in turn, repeated Valentina Matvienko’s thesis about the involvement of the Federation Council in “fateful decisions” in the modern history of the country, in particular on the issues of reunification of “original Russian lands” with Russia.

Finally, the speaker of the first convocation of the Federation Council (1994–1996), Vladimir Shumeiko, spoke to the senators, recalling the events that preceded the adoption of the Constitution. “Despite the fact that the Federal Treaty was signed in March 1992, Russia continued to disintegrate internally: they talked about the Far Eastern Republic, in the Ural Republic they even issued money, in the Kaliningrad region they also talked about the creation of the Baltic Republic,” he indulged in memories. “The Federation Council was called upon to finish this decay and put it all together.” To immerse his former colleagues in the atmosphere of that time, Mr. Shumeiko even remembered two ditties. “On the one hand, “Our dear party is not giving up its position, it sent the KGB and the police to the people.” And on the other hand, “After the putsch, the democrats are breathing even easier; crimes and mistakes will be blamed on the putschists.” Both are true, and both are true,” the former speaker stated, adding that the first convocation of the Federation Council coped with the task of unifying the country, including by abandoning the factional principle in its work.

And Vladimir Shumeiko finished with a discussion about the current geopolitical situation. “Today is no less, if not more difficult time. For some reason, it seems to our age-old enemies that Russia can be defeated today. Well, they don’t understand, the idiots, as our president says, they don’t understand: Russia cannot be defeated. Because every time it’s hard for her, she gathers into a single fist. And the role of the Northern Fleet here is enormous!” – summed up the ex-chairman of the chamber.

After the ceremonial part, the senators got down to everyday work: in particular, talked as part of the “government hour” with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, heard annual report of the Commission for the Protection of Sovereignty and approved several high-profile laws, including limiting the use of telephones in school. At the end of the holiday, Shaman performed before the senators, performing the hits “I am Russian” and “Let’s Rise.”

Andrey Prah