Diplomatic World nummer 54

INTERVIEW OF
H.I.H. THE HEIR, TSESAREVICH,
AND GRAND DUKE GEORGE
OF RUSSIA WITH BARBARA DIETRICH
How do you compare the governmental and
administrative institutions of Russia and the
EU, knowing, as you do, that the EU has the
European Parliament, the European Council, the
European Commission, and the European Court of
Justice? Could you explain how governmental and
administrative institutions in Russia work ?
The European Union is an association of sovereign
states with diverse governmental structures. It includes
monarchies and republics, as well as federal and highly
centralized states. Russia, by contrast, is an integrated
republic with a federated structure. Thus to compare
the institutional systems of the European Union and the
Russian Federation side by side would be rather difficult to
do. About 18% of the population of the Russian Federation
lives in the non-Russian republics, the borders of which are
formed around the largest ethnic populations that reside in
a given region.
The other citizens of the Russian Federation live in
administrative districts whose borders follow the contours
of the land, or reflect the economic lives of the population,
and so on.
institutional practices. Today, Russia is a presidential
republic. And for the present moment in its history, that is
the best system for it.
Of course, it is not an ideal system. But at least in today’s
Russia, unlike during the period of the Communist
totalitarian regime, one can at least discuss openly both the
advantages and disadvantages of the present government, as
well as possible alternatives to it.
Article 13 of the Constitution prohibits the establishment
of an official ideology in the state and guarantees freedom
of expression and thought. This constitutional provision
is a vitally important factor in maintaining the delicate
balance between civil order and freedom of thought in our
country.
The Imperial House does not involve itself in politics and
is open to dialogue with all our countrymen, regardless of
their political views. Nor do we take sides in any political
conflicts. If any public figures or governmental officials
Despite this internal federal structure, all citizens of the
Russian Federation are entirely equal no matter where they
live, and none of the Russian Federation’s constituent parts
have the right to secede from the Federation.
The legal system in Russia is based on common democratic
principles that are shared by the majority of the nations of
the world today. But even with these shared principles, the
legal system of each nation nonetheless expresses its own
national characteristics.
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Russia is obviously a large, complex, multi-ethnic country;
thus in every aspect of its system of state and administrative
institutions, including its legal system, there needs to
be a strong central authority to unify and standardize