This state authority provides support for the President of the Russian Federation and monitors the implementation of the President’s decisions. In addition, it prepares draft laws for submission to the State Duma by the President as legislative initiatives, as well as drafts of decrees, orders, instructions, appeals of the President, and other documents, including the annual messages of the President to the Federal Assembly.

The Administration oversees and verifies compliance with federal laws, decrees, orders, and instructions of the President and submits relevant reports to the President. It also ensures the President’s interaction with political parties, public associations, professional and creative unions in Russia, state bodies and officials of foreign states, Russian and foreign political and public figures, and international organizations.

The Administration analyzes information on socio-economic, political, and legal processes in the country and the world, citizens’ appeals, and proposals from public associations and local governments. Reports are prepared for the President based on the processed materials. The President exercises overall management of his Administration.

Anton Eduardovich Vaino has been the head of the Presidential Administration since 2016. Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko is the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and oversees the work of the regional ministries of internal policy and elections.

The All-Russia Public Movement for the Defense of Voters’ Rights Golos is a leading association of citizens in Russia for independent election monitoring. “Golos” trains observers, supports the work of the federal hotline and online services, provides legal assistance to voters, participates in improving the electoral system, and conducts long-term and short-term observations of elections.

In its work, “Golos” is guided by universal international electoral standards and strictly adheres to political neutrality as one of the main conditions for independent and objective election monitoring. The work of “Golos” participants is based on constitutional principles that Russia’s sovereign and sole source of power is its multiethnic people. The highest direct expression of the people’s power is through referendums and free elections.

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VСIOM) – formerly known as the All-Union Center – is the oldest Russian company conducting public opinion polls. The Russian Federation owns 100 percent of the company’s shares.

Valery Fedorov has been the General Director since 2003. Since 2012, Fedorov has been an advisor to the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.

The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) is a federal executive body that produces official statistics on the Russian Federation’s social, economic, demographic, environmental, and other public processes.

It was established in 1991 and is the successor of the Statistical Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (before 1917), the Central Statistical Administration of the RSFSR (after 1917), and the State Committee of the USSR for Statistics (1987-1991).

The Yuri Levada Analytical Center is an autonomous non-profit and Russian non-governmental research organization. The center’s network of interviewers consists of 100 regional partners.

Since 1988, the Levada Center has conducted regular public opinion polls throughout Russia, with clients including commercial, non-profit research organizations and universities.

The center employs sociology, political science, economics, psychology, marketing research, mass survey organization, and data processing, specialists. The center is named after the Russian sociologist Yuri Levada.

In 2016, the Russian authorities labeled the Levada Center a “foreign agent” for its leadership’s public statements criticizing the annexation of Crimea and authoritarianism in Russia based on the country’s security structures and bureaucracy. In addition, the Ministry of Justice inspection report stated that the Levada Center was financed by foreign organizations and engaged in political activity in Russia on behalf of these organizations.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, George Washington University, Columbia University, and the University of Colorado were among the foreign funding sources. The Levada Center also worked with the most prominent public opinion research institute, Gallup.

Historical, educational, charitable, and human rights organization.

The Memorial Society is a non-profit community of organizations dedicated to historical enlightenment, charitable causes, and human rights protection. The organization researches political repression in the Soviet Union and modern-day Russia and strives to promote civil society and a democratic, rule-of-law state that prevents a return to totalitarianism. The Memorial Society also participates in restoring historical truth and commemorating the victims of political repression under totalitarian regimes.

The Russian Memorial coordinates the Society’s work in Russia, while the International Memorial includes several branches from Russia and European countries.

On December 29, 2021, the Russian legal entities of the International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center were liquidated by a decision of the Moscow City Court. Nevertheless, the organization is represented by several independent experts and organizations who continue their activities. On October 7, 2022, the Nobel Committee awarded the Memorial Society the Nobel Peace Prize.

A non-profit organization, similar to a public foundation, was founded in 1991 as part of VCIOM and conducted sociological research using various survey methods. The foundation became an independent organization in mid-1992 and has since become one of the leading sociological organizations in Russia.

The Foundation carries out a large volume of commissioned and proprietary research for various clients, including the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, as well as for foreign clients such as USIA, ROPER STARCH, BBC, Stanford University, the Eurasia Foundation, and embassies of various countries in Russia.

The Foundation has about 80 employees, 500 employees of regional centers, and 1500 interviewers, including subsidiaries and long-term partners in most Russian regions. The president of the foundation is Alexander Oslon. In 1996, the foundation became the essential sociological organization of Boris Yeltsin’s election headquarters and played a similar role in Vladimir Putin’s headquarters in 1999-2000 and 2004.

According to the constitution, Russia is a federative presidential-parliamentary republic. However, it is a unitary state with a strong vertical of power and financial dependence of regions on the center. The population of Russia as of the end of 2021 was 145,171,000 people. There are 190 nationalities. The official language is Russian.

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which was amended on July 1, 2020, the Federation consists of 89 subjects, including the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, which were annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and 4 subjects – the Kherson Oblast, Zaporozhskaiia Oblast, Donetsk People’s Republic, and Luhansk People’s Republic – which were captured from Ukraine and incorporated into Russia in 2022.

Russia is divided into eight federal districts with presidential representatives at the helm who are not direct leaders of the subjects within the federal district. The list of federal communities in Russia includes the Central, North-Western, Southern, North Caucasus, Volga, Ural, Siberian, and Far Eastern Federal Districts.

The head of state is the President.

The executive branch is the Government of the Russian Federation.

The legislative branch is the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which consists of two chambers: the Federation Council, which includes two representatives from each subject of the Russian Federation and up to 30 representatives appointed by the President, and the State Duma, which has 450 deputies elected by public elections.

There are 44 registered political parties in Russia. The State Duma of the VIII convocations (which has been in effect since 2021) is represented by 5 of them:

United Russia – 324 deputies,

Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) – 57,

Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) – 23,

Fair Russia- For Truth – 28,

New People – 13.

Two deputies are not affiliated with any faction.