$OH[DQGHU6DOHQNR Russian Federation shall neither diminish the citizen’s rights and freedoms nor free the citizen from the obligations stipulated by Russian citizenship, unless otherwise provided for by federal law or an international agreement of the Russian Federation. In Article 6 the 2002 Citizenship Law the Russian legislator provides the regulations regarding dual citizenship. Thus, a citizen of the Russian Federation who also has another citizenship shall be regarded by the Russian Federation only as a Russian Federation citizen, except for the cases stipulated by an international treaty of the Russian Federation or a federal law. Acquisition by a Russian Federation citizen of another citizenship shall not cause termination of Russian Federation citizenship. 6 Recent debates 6.1 Citizenship & Nationality The following aspects of case law illustrate the importance of the clear separation between nationality and citizenship in the Russian context. The issue regarding the indication of nationality of Russian citizens remains extremely contentious in the modern Russian Federation (Brubaker 1994: 47; Piattoeva 2009: 723; Stepanov 2000: 305). Due to the legislation in force the domestic passport certifies only Russian citizenship.59 Information about nationality can be indicated only in the following documents: birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce certificate, adoption certificate, paternity certificate, name change certificate and in the death certificate. Notification of nationality in all these documents is made only at the request of the citizen and on a voluntary basis. Looking into the near future, the issue of nationality notification is likely to remain politically salient in Russia. In the late 1990s, the Russian legislator had not provided appropriate regulations regarding voluntary disclosure of nationality in the domestic passport. This led to highprofile litigation in the Constitutional Court of Russia. In 2004 the Volgograd Regional Duma lodged a request to the Russian Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of art.5 of the governmental Provision about passports of Russian citizens.60 It was this article that led to information about nationality being excluded from the new Russian passport. At that moment, considering the fact that the Federal Parliament of Russia (State Duma) has been working on the draft of the Federal Law re-establishing the section about nationality in the passport61, the Constitutional Court of Russia dismissed this request from Volgograd without a hearing on its merits.62 In 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation once again had to return to the question of the constitutionality of the above mentioned governmental Provision regarding nationality notification in the Russian passport. This time the constitutional complaint against was lodged by a Russian citizen, Boris Stepanovich Kononov, who was also from Volgograd. Treaty between Russian Federation and Republic of Turkmenistan regarding regulation of the issues of dual citizenship (23.12.1993). 59 In compliance with the requirements of Art.10 of the Federal Law ! 62-FZ from 31.05.2002 (revised version on 28.06.2009) ‘About citizenship of the Russian Federation)’ // Russian gazette, N 100, 05.06.2002. 60 Order of the Government of the RF from 08.07.1997 N 828 (revised version on 27.05.2011) ‘On approval of the Provision about the passport of the citizen of the Russian Federation, blank form and description of the passport of the citizen of the Russian Federation’ // Russian gazette, N 135, 16.07.1997. 61 On 17.10.2003 the State Duma approved at the first reading the draft of the Federal Law prepared by the Russian President ‘About the main identity documents of the citizen of the Russian Federation’. The art.10 of this draft reenacted the possibility of the nationality notification in the passport (based on the voluntary written statement of the passport holder). 62 Decision of the Constitutional Court of the RF from 08.04.2004 N 128-B ‘On the request of the Volgograd Regional Duma about the examination of the constitutionality of art.5 of the Provision regarding the passport of citizens of the Russian Federation’.  56&$6(8'2&,7&5‹$XWKRU