The Federation Council walked through the past

On Tuesday, Omsk Oblast Senator Yelena Mizulina, who is preparing to leave the Federation Council after September’s regional elections, held a roundtable on the evolution of Russia’s upper house of parliament. The event was attended by both veterans of the Federation Council, who recalled the days of the “dawn of federalism,” and its newcomers, who spoke about the blue “ticks” in the Telegram messenger. Ms. Mizulina herself stated that the first convocation of the upper chamber was stronger than the current one, since then the senators depended on the voters, and now they depend on the regional authorities.

The round table entitled “History of the Federation Council: from political diversity to unity of regions” Elena Mizulina began with a brief historical digression. She recalled that for the first time in the post-Soviet history of Russia, the upper house was formed in 1993 in direct elections, but it existed in this form for only two years. In 1996, elected parliamentarians were replaced by ex officio senators – governors and speakers of regional legislative assemblies, and since 2002, members of the Federation Council began to be delegated by the authorities of the subjects of the federation.

Speaking about the first convocation of the upper chamber, to which Ms. Mizulina herself was elected, she recalled the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992, because of which “every two months a state of emergency was introduced,” as well as the situation in Chechnya. “We made a decision on the appeal (of the first president of the Russian Federation.— “b”) Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin on what actions to take, and there were two alternative draft resolutions. I don’t represent such a situation in the current Federation Council!” The senator admitted honestly.

Elena Mizulina also recalled the request of the Federation Council to the Constitutional Court, during the consideration of which the first Chechen war actually stopped, and triumphantly stated that the presidential decree on “restoring constitutional order” in Chechnya then lost force, since the consent of the upper chamber was not received. “This is very important, because the Federation Council was entrusted with powers under the Constitution, and it should not give them away, it is obliged to defend the interests of the country, citizens. The First Federation Council demonstrated this very seriously,” Ms. Mizulina emphasized.

The resignation of Prosecutor General Alexei Kazannik in 1994, which the upper chamber approved only on the second attempt, was also memorable for her. “It was a strong Federation Council,” Elena Mizulina assured again. “I am now comparing how we appoint judges, we agree: then it was very important, there were very tough things.”

After a period when governors and regional speakers sat ex officio in the Federation Council (1996-2001), an important milestone was the return of senators to permanent work – after all, in the 2000s there was a large-scale revision of legislation and they were required to participate personally, Ms. Mizulina continued. But she criticized the principle of forming the upper chamber that has been in force since then (each region appoints two representatives from the executive and legislative branches of government). According to Elena Mizulina, the senator’s dependence on the body that delegates him prevents him from taking an independent position: “There must be objectivity and adherence to principles, which give confidence in constancy. The best model for the formation of the Federation Council is elections. When you know that the voters are behind you, this is a very big responsibility and strength.”

However, even in its current form, the upper house has its advantages, for example, the regional aspect, Ms. Mizulina continued. After all, say, a regional week, which the Federation Council dedicates every month to one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, can be compared with the abundance of VDNKh, the senator rejoiced: “And crafts, and cultural characteristics, clothing, folklore. Some kind of small film is definitely being made.” And even the very idea of ​​displaying the flags of all Russian regions in the hall of the upper house is “very beautiful,” summed up Elena Mizulina.

Following the memories of the work of the Federation Council were shared by the vice-speaker of its first convocation Anatoly Dolgolaptev, who spoke about the prerequisites for the appearance of the upper chamber, the ex-head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov, who focused on ideological issues, and other veterans of the parliamentary corps. Toward the end of the round table, DPR Senator Natalya Nikonorova briefly brought its participants back to the present, recalling the need to fight Ukrainian propaganda with the help of legislation on foreign agents and blue ticks in Telegram. But Elena Mizulina nevertheless summed up the discussion in a historical vein, proposing to publish a collection of memoirs based on the transcript of the past event.

Andrew Ashes