Russian Lawmakers Pass Local Government Reform Bill Designed to Further Strengthen Kremlin Control– www.themoscowtimes.com

Russian Lawmakers Pass Local Government Reform Bill Designed to Further Strengthen Kremlin Control– www.themoscowtimes.com
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Excerpt:

Russia’s State Duma passed a bill Wednesday overhauling the country’s constitutionally mandated two-tier system of local self-government, further consolidating the Kremlin’s control six years after President Vladimir Putin proposed the reforms.

The bill, which has been amended over 1,000 times since its introduction in 2021, allows regional authorities to decide whether to abolish lower-tier urban and rural municipal governments, shifting toward a single-tier system.

One of the bill’s co-authors said that more than half of Russia’s regions, as well as four partially occupied Ukrainian regions and annexed Crimea, have already adopted or plan to adopt the new system.

The remaining regions — primarily ethnic republics — are expected to either retain the two-tier system or partially transition to the new model.