The New Russian-Tatar Treaty and Its Implications for Russian Federalism

Author(s): Julia Kusznir
Editor(s): Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 16
Pages: 2-5
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2007

When the Duma ratified a new bilateral treaty delimiting responsibilities between Russia's federal executive branch and the Republic of Tatarstan, the end of federal measures weakening the power of the regions seemed to be at hand. The treaty secured a number of important privileges dating back to the Yeltsin era for Tatarstan's regional elite. However, on February 25 the Federation Council, the upper house of the national parliament, rejected the bilateral treaty in unexpected fashion. The fallout from this decision is still unclear. But rare disagreement among Putin-era federal institutions highlights the current lack of a long-term concept for federal reforms. The present stalemate may mitigate open conflict between the center and the regions in the election period 2007-2008, but it will not help the federal government achieve the core task of its federal reform - the creation of stable, formal relations that are independent of individual clientelistic networks.

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