ABSTRACT
For most observers of Russian politics the presidency of Vladimir Putin decisively changed the post-communist development of the Russian parliament (Chaisty 2005; Remington 2007). Putin’s efforts to create a vertically structured system of power, it is argued, removed the independence of the Federal Assembly and transformed the legislature into a law-signing appendage of the regime (Remington 2008a; Novaya gazeta, 26 April 2010). This chapter will outline the ways in which the Kremlin, mainly through party control, has established its dominance in legislative politics. This dominance has had majoritarian consequences for parliamentary organisation, law-making and executive oversight. These areas will form the main focus of analysis.
