Press Release, 20.09.2017

Viktor Sheinis, one of the authors of the Russian Constitution, member of YABLOKO’s Federal Political Committee and chief researcher of the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented on the party’s legislative initiative to restrict the President’s right to use armed forces abroad.

YABLOKO submitted to the Legislative Assemblies of the three Russian regions a draft federal law establishing the terms for the use of armed forces outside Russia. The draft law runs that it is the upper chamber of the Russian parliament – the Federation Council – that should decide whether to extend the permission to use the armed forces after the expiry of specific deadlines. According to the Constitution, it is the Federation Council which decides on the use of armed forces outside the territory of Russia. However, the upper chamber voluntarily transferred these powers to the President.

According to Victor Sheinis, this bill is “a very urgent and useful initiative that really raises the problem of separation of powers.”

It is the Federation Council of Federation that must decide the issue of both the use and the extension of the use of armed forces abroad, Sheinis noted. At the same time, he stressed that exceptions could be made for those cases when the decision to use the army should be taken immediately – for example, in case of military aggression against Russia. “It’s not difficult to separate this in the law,” Viktor Sheinis said.