Meeting with Constitutional Court President Valery Zorkin

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Zorkin, good afternoon.

Take a seat, please.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you and all the members of the Constitutional Court on Constitution Day, which is just around the corner. As far as I know, most of the requests filed with the Constitutional Court have dealt with the constitutional status of individuals, followed by civil law, civil procedure, criminal law and procedure, and all other matters related to defending the rights of citizens during administrative legal proceedings and all the related matters. There has been a lot of work for you, and a lot of responsibility too.

The Constitutional Court performs its noble mission of defending the rights and interests of the people, while also protecting the constitutional regime.

Thank you very much. Once again, congratulations on the upcoming Constitution Day.

President of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin: Mr President, I would also like to congratulate you on this important day we will be marking soon.

As usual, allow me [to present] our [collection of selected Constitutional Court rulings], just as we do every year. This is only part of our work, as summed up in brief rulings.

Vladimir Putin: I see. Thank you.

Valery Zorkin: However, we are now moving from paper to a fully digitised environment. Here, you have only a brief introduction, while the rest is on the thumb drive.

Vladimir Putin: I can see that too.

Valery Zorkin: This is the first time we have used this format. Previously, there were only printed versions.

Vladimir Putin: Please make sure to convey my best wishes and words of gratitude to all those who signed this.

Valery Zorkin: Thank you very much. They asked me to convey the same message to you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Valery Zorkin: Of course, the Constitutional Court has a special place within the judiciary. After all, we are not just an ordinary judicial body for reviewing all the cases we examine. In fact, our mission consists of assessing laws and other regulations, including international treaties, in terms of their compliance with the Constitution.

We issue about 60 rulings on extremely challenging cases every year, more or less. In 3,500 cases, we did not recognise them as being unconstitutional, while still offering a way for interpreting these laws.

What does this mean? This means that we do not recognise them as being contrary to the Constitution. I believe that this indicates that the State Duma, despite all the complaints and criticism it has faced, adopts laws which are quite good, in my opinion.

Vladimir Putin: Good laws.

Valery Zorkin: Yes.

To be continued.