Preliminary Assessment of Compliance of Constitutional Amendments in Constitutional (Statutory) Councils of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation

The 2020 amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation significantly expanded the competence of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation received the right to carry out preliminary normative control of constitutional amendments. This caused active scientific discussions. However, the issue of preliminary constitutional normative control of amendments to the constitutions and charters of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation has not been studied by legal science. At the same time, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation endowed their constitutional (statutory) councils with the right to preliminary normative control of constitutional amendments. The article analyzes the experience of three constituent entities of the Russian Federation (the Republic of Adygea, the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Republic of Yakutia), which have established constitutional councils. Based on the results of the analysis, it is concluded that the constitutional councils of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are endowed with the right to preliminary normative control of constitutional amendments, but the procedure for such verification and its limits are not regulated, and the results are advisory in nature.