The Russian Federation. Акопян Л.Г. - 10 стр.

          2.2 Text 1

State System of the Russian Federation
    The Russian Federation is set up by the constitution of 1993.
    Under the Constitution Russia is a presidential republic. The federal government
consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Each of them is checked
and balanced by the President.
    The legislative power is vested in the Federal Assembly. It consists of two chambers.
The Upper Chamber is the Council of Federation; the Lower Chamber is the State
Duma.
    Each chambers is headed by the Speaker. Legislature may be initiated in either of the
two Chambers. But to become a law a bill must be approved by both Chambers and
signed by the President. The President may veto the bill.
    The President is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he makes treaties,
enforces laws, appoints ministers to be approved by the Federal Assembly.
    The executive power belongs to the Government which is headed by the Prime
Minister. The first action of the Prime Minister on appointment is to form the Cabinet.
     The judicial branch is represented by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court
and the regional courts.
     The members of the Federal Assembly are elected by popular vote for a four-year
period.
    Today the state symbol of Russia is a three-coloured banner. It has three horizontal
stripes: white, blue and red. The white stripe symbolizes the earth, the blue one stands
for the sky, and the red one symbolizes liberty. It was the first state symbol that replaced
the former symbols in 1991. Since 1993 the hymn of Russia was “The Patriotic Song”
by M. Glinka. But in 2000 it was changed. Now we have the hymn, that has the melody
of the former USSR hymn, but the verses to it were written a new by S. Michalkov. A
new national emblem is a two-headed eagle. It is the most ancient symbol of Russia. It
originates from the heraldic emblem of the Ruricovitches. All these symbols are official.
They have been approved by the Federal Assembly.

          2.3 Answer the questions

     1)   When was the Russian Federation set up?
     2)   What kind of state is it?
     3)   What does the federal government consist of?
     4)   What part does the President play in the government?
     5)   What is the legislative power vested in?
     6)   How many chambers does it consist of? Name them.
     7)   Who heads each chamber?
     8)   How does a bill become a law?

12