Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Table 4.1 Autonomous okrugs and their ‘mother’ regionsName of theAutonomousOkrug‘Mother’RegionOkrug’sCapitalArea(sq. km)Okrug’s Population/(Place Withinthe RussianFederation)Aginskii Chita Oblast Aginskoe 19,000 72,213/(84)BuryatskiiChukotskii N/A Anadyr 737,700 53,824/(85)Yevenkiiskii Krasnoyarsk Krai Tura 767,600 17,697/(89)Khanty-Mansiskii Tyumen Oblast Khanty- 523,100 1,432,817/(36)MasiiskKomi-Permyatskii Perm Oblast Kudymkar 32,900 136,076/(82)Koraykskii Kamchatka Oblast Palana 301,500 25,157/(88)Nenetskii Arkhangel’sk Naryan-Mar 176,700 41,546/(86)OblastTaimyrskii Krasnoyarsk Krai Dudinka 862,100 39,786/(87)Ust’-Ordynskii Irkutsk Oblast Ust’-Orda 22,400 135,327/(83)BuraytskiiYamalo-Nenetskii Tyumen Oblast Salekhard 750,300 507,000/(72)Source: Compiled by the author.Unification as a political project 83processes, and changing political rhetoric are not the only signs of defederalization.The tendency to revise the state administrative structure by reducingthe number of federation subjects fully fits with this approach. Therehave been numerous initiatives aimed at reducing the number of subjects ofthe federation through regional mergers. Some of them have come into being(see Table 4.2 for the mergers’ timeline), others (such as the mergers ofTyumen Oblast and Yamalo-Nenetskii and Khanty-Mansiskii autonomousokrugs, or the mergers of Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenetskii AutonomousOkrug) have been more problematic, and the final outcome is still unclear.However, mergers of federal subjects have required amendments to federallegislation. In December 2001, the constitutional Law, ‘On the Process ofAccession to the Russian Federation and Foundation of a New ConstituentUnit of the Russian Federation’, was adopted. 5 This law regulates the conditionsand procedures for mergers. According to the law, only neighbouringfederation subjects are permitted to initiate merger procedures. There aretwo possible outcomes of a merger: two federation subjects (A and B) couldmerge and create a new subject of the federation (A + B = C), or one subjectof the federation could incorporate another without creating a new subject(A + B = A). The law also requires federation subjects interested in a mergerto hold a referendum, but only the President can place before the StateDuma the draft law required to institute a new merged subject of the federation.The main thrust of this chapter is an examination of Putin’s new policy ofmerging federal subjects with a focus on the first new federal subject toemerge from such a merger, Permskii Krai. The choice of this particular case