The desire of the President of the Russian Federation to stop all opportunities for international legal pressure on Russia is correct, says the deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University Vladimir Shapovalov.
Putin voiced a thoughtful state position
At a meeting with members of the working group to prepare proposals for amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, that “someone often has a desire to rule Russia from the side and we constantly encounter this”.
The president has developed this thesis, that the European Court of Human Rights (YeSPCh) constantly makes illegal decisions against the Russian Federation, taking advantage of, that we are a member of the European Convention and have a norm in the Constitution of the Russian Federation on the priority of international law.
“Before us is not the private opinion of the president, and reflection of the state policy of Russia. Our president, as a senior official, never speaks privately, but speaks only on behalf of the state ”, – concludes Shapovalov.
As noted by the expert, At present, the process of full-scale return of Russia's sovereignty, since we are talking about the primacy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation over decisions of international courts and other similar instances. This is a normal thing for any state., therefore logical, that the president asked this topic in his Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
"Actually, a decision to introduce into the Constitution a rule on the supremacy of Russian legislation in Russia is common in any country, since sovereignty implies the right of the people to decide their own fate ", – states Shapovalov.
This initiative stems from the thousand-year history of Russia and did not arise by chance., since this situation was discussed in different formats and at different venues, including, and as an initiative from below, ie. from the expert community and public organizations.
The problem rests on the constitutional provision on the primacy of international law, which gives priority to agreements and contracts, concluded by Moscow with other states in case of their conflict with the norms of domestic Russian legislation. It is also the basis for the direct application of international agreements, as well as their institutions in Russia.
The problem rests on the bias of decisions of international courts, which are then implemented in Russia on the basis of agreements signed by our country - if we take the ECHR, then this is a European convention, as well as Moscow’s membership in PACE and the Council of Europe.
There was no clause on the priority of international law in the Constitution of the RSFSR, and this gave Moscow the opportunity to diversify decisions of external authorities, but in the Constitution of the Russian Federation such a priority was clearly spelled out in part 4 in articles 15.
This moment will be detailed in further constitutional amendments on this issue..
Russia must protect its national interests here
“You can’t talk about, that President Putin came up with this idea, as it is the result of a lengthy discussion and even that enforcement practice, which managed to take shape in Russia in recent years ”, – summarizes Shapovalov.
Putin said, that Russia today even implements unlawful decisions of the ECHR, despite, that they often invade important issues of government. It’s not even worth talking about decisions of the ECHR on payments to various “bloggers” and decisions on Russian procedural law - they have long become a “parable in languages” and the subject of a huge number of legal incidents.
"We today, inherently, already introduced the principle of supremacy of national legislation and in recent years proceeded from it, although I want to emphasize, what is normal practice, which exists in many countries of the world ”, – concludes Shapovalov.
According to Vladimir Leonidovich, Russia against this background is no exception - rather, that constitutional form, which was introduced into the Russian fundamental law in 1993 year represents a concession in comparison with other states of the world.
“State sovereignty implies the supremacy of its fundamental law, ie. constitution, and then legal norms, which are not constitutional, therefore, this proposal by the president should reinforce that legal practice, which is the norm today for all countries of the world. And logically, that this was stated in the Message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation ”, – states Shapovalov.
Shapovalov believes, what is needed here, first of all, proceed from the interests of our people and country, which involve self-orientation, and if you take the ECHR, then the practice of enforcement decisions of this instance is negative for Russia.
“In the law enforcement practice of the ECHR, usually, biased attitude towards Russia is demonstrated, and that raises a lot of questions about, Are such decisions necessary for our country and our people? ”, – summarizes Shapovalov.
The main thesis of critics of the position of the Russian Federation on the ECHR is, that this structure supposedly solves the problem in that situation, when the law in our country is violated. This is a serious argument., but Shapovalov believes, that one cannot rely on external forces here.
“We need to improve our legal proceedings and then no external instances will be needed”, – concludes Shapovalov.
Dmitry Sikorski
