The Legal and Normative Framework of International Activities of Subnational Parliaments: a Case of St. Petersburg Parliament

Purpose. The article engages in a comprehensive analysis of the legal and normative foundations of international activities of the Russian sub-state regions with an emphasis on regional parliaments.

Methods. In order to compile the study, the author draws upon a case-oriented research design and engages in two approaches namely comparative and political-legal. The case of the study is St. Petersburg, a Russian region, and its supreme legislative body namely the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg.

Results. The author has defined the general normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the Russian regions, outlined the general normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the legislative authorities of the Russian regions and analysed the normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the representative authority of the Russian regions and their proportion with the executive branch of power in the case of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the system of executive authorities of St. Petersburg. In addition, the author outlined the problems of legal regulation of international activities of Russian regions.

Conclusions. Firstly, in terms of legal basis, the regions of the Russian Federation have a limited range of freedom in the sphere of international relations, consisting in the maintenance of cultural and economic ties, and the international activity of the regions itself is under the control of the federal authorities. Secondly, the federal legislation of Russia contains legal uncertainties regarding the interpretation of concepts and the definition of specific mechanisms and forms of international activities of the regions. Thirdly, federal legislation, while not defining the clear competences of regional parliaments, provides the Russian regions to independently determine the specific powers of their authorities within the framework of federal and regional legislation. Fourthly, the competences of international activities of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg are limited to the status-value, normative-recommendary and advisory-expert nature. Fifthly, the structure of the powers of public authorities in St. Petersburg shows a prevalence in the powers of international activities between the legislative and executive authorities in favour of the second one

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