THE TERRITORIAL CONFIGURATION OF POWER IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (THE PROBLEMATIC ISSUES OF DOCTRINAL UNDERSTANDINGS AND CONSTITUTIONAL-LEGAL REGULATION

The constitutional principles of the Federal structure and local self-government during the quarter-century period of the Constitution of the Russian Federation have not undergone a serious transformation. Nevertheless, through the current legislative and other legal regulation, the constitutional model of the territorial organization of public power in the Russian state has been seriously modified: the structure of the Russian Federation is changing, new levels of state administration (sub-Federal, sub-regional) are emerging, the status of special administrative-territorial units is being formalized, there is an excessive centralization of local self-government. Not all trends appear to be unambiguously positive and suggest the need of further scientific understanding and discussion.