Political System and Powers of the President of Russia

Pre-reading. Scan the text and find the answers to the questions:

1. Great Britain is a country with the parliamentary monarchy. What is the state structure of the Russian Federation?

2. Great Britain has Parliament with two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. What chambers does the RF Parliament consist of?

Russia is a democratic federative rule-of-law state with a republican form of government. The Russian Federation consists of 83 constituent entities.

State power in Russia is carried out by dividing power into three independent branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Executive power belongs to the central and local governments. Judicial power is provided by appropriate judicial system and by civil, administrative and criminal legislation.

The President is the head of state and determines the basic objectives of the internal and external policy of the state. He is elected for 6 years on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for all eligible citizens. One and the same person cannot serve as President for more than two terms in succession.

The President is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. His duty is to appoint diplomatic representatives for approval by the Parliament. He has the right to show mercy and to decide on issues of citizenship, to introduce the state of emergency throughout the country or in a particular territory within the Russian Federation. The President has the right to dissolve the State Duma, to announce elections ahead of time and to pass the decision to conduct a referendum on federal issues

Ex. 9 Answer the questions:

1. What are the three independent branches of state power in Russia?

2. Who exercises the legislative power?

3. How is judicial power provided by?

4. Executive power belongs to the central and local governments, doesn’t it?

5. Is the RF President elected or appointed?

6. What are the functions of the RF President?

Ex. 10 Match these English and Russian words:

1. rule-of-law-state	a) гражданство
2. republican form of government	b) субъекты
3. internal and external policy	c) право помилования
4. constituent entities	d) чрезвычайное положение
5. objectives	e) внутренняя и внешняя политика
6. the right to show mercy	f) распустить Государственную Думу
7. the state of emergency	g) правовое государство
8. to pass the decision	h) выносить решение
9. citizenship	i) цели
10. to dissolve the State Duma	j) республиканская форма правления

Ex.11 Match the synonyms: