Federation Council (Russia)

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Federation Council Совет Федерации Sovet Federatsii
Federal Assembly of Russia
Type
Type	Upper house
History
Founded	1993; 31 years ago (1993)[1]
Preceded by	Soviet of Nationalities Constitutional Conference of Russia
Leadership
Chairwoman	Valentina Matviyenko, United Russia since 21 September 2011
First Deputy Chairman	Vladimir Yakushev, United Russia since 25 September 2024
Deputy Chairman	Andrey Yatskin, United Russia since 23 September 2020
Structure
Seats	177[a]
Political groups	United Russia (136)   Communist (4)   A Just Russia — For Truth (3)   LDPR (3)   Donetsk Republic (2)   Independent (27)   Vacant seats (3)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Last election	12 December 1993 (Formation process changed since December 1995, abolishing the elections)
Meeting place
26 Bol'shaya Dmitrovka, Moscow
Website
council.gov.ru/en/

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The Federation Council,^[b] unofficially Senate,^[c] is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.

Each of the 89 federal subjects of Russia (including two annexed in 2014 and four more in 2022), consisting of 24 republics, 48 oblasts, nine krais, three federal cities, four autonomous okrugs, and one autonomous oblast, sends two senators to the Council, for a total membership of 178 Senators. In addition, the Constitution also provides for senators from the Russian Federation, which can be no more than 30 (up to seven of them for life), as well as (optionally) former presidents as life senators (as of 2020^[update] there are no such life senators).

The council holds its sessions within the Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow, the former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroy), with further offices and committee rooms located on New Arbat Avenue. The two houses of the Federal Assembly are physically separated, with the State Duma residing in another part of Moscow on Okhotny Ryad Street. Sessions of the Federation Council take place in Moscow from 25 January to 15 July and from 16 September to 31 December. Sessions are open to the public, although the location of sessions can change if the Federation Council so desires, and secure closed sessions may be convoked.

For purposes of succession, the speaker (chairman) of the Federation Council is the third-highest position in the Russian Federation, after the president and the prime minister. In the case of incapacity of the president and prime minister, the chairman of the Federation Council becomes the Acting President of the Russian Federation.^[2][3]

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