Abstract
The paper presents the current constitutional reform in Russia focusing on the constitutional amendment concerning the international case law. The amended article 79 of the Constitution of Russian Federation restricts the international case law applicability in Russia. There was no polemic around the draft of the constitutional amendment and this restriction was accepted by experts, politicians and public without any discussion. To certain extent this unanimous acceptance could be explained by general positivistic trend in Russia. The amendment is in line with the positivistic approach to the international law formed in Russia recently. The strategic documents on the cooperation within BRICS are scrutinized showing that the positivistic approach is in line with the strategies of Russia announced previously. Based on the general scientific methods and on the method of academic foresight the authors made the following conclusions. The constitutional reform regarding international law does not affect the BRICS documents directly and it does not go against the principles of BRICS cooperation announced by Russia. However, there are certain indirect implications. It is clear that the reform deepens divergences between the BRICS countries. The differences in the approaches to the human rights, certain ideological differences will become more acute within BRICS and there is a space for political use of these differences.
Highlights
Was no polemic around the draft of the constitutional amendment and this restriction was accepted by experts, politicians and public without any discussion
The amendment is in line with the positivistic approach to the international law formed in Russia recently
The differences in the approaches to the human rights, certain ideological differences will become more acute within BRICS and there is a space for political use of these differences
Summary
The current Constitution of Russia was adopted in 1993 on the nation-wide referendum after the collapse of the USSR. It means according to the addressing that only if the international legislation and treaties requirements, as well as the decisions of international bodies do not imply contradiction to the Russian Constitution - they can be in effect in Russia.8 This message has evolved in a new wording of the article 79 of the Constitution presented in the draft of Federal constitutional law “On the amendment of the Constitution” introduced to the Federal Assembly shortly after the addressing to the nation. According to the amended version the decisions of interstate bodies adopted based on the provisions of international treaties concluded by the Russian Federation and interpreted in a way contradicting the Constitution shall not be enforced in Russia.
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