5HSRUWRQ5XVVLD The cause of this repeated complaint was the inactivity of Russian policymakers. After 2003, when the above mentioned draft of the Federal Law about the voluntary nationality notification was adopted, the legislative activity of the State Duma ceased. Eventually the draft was dismissed by the Russian Duma in 2011. Therefore, the Russian passport regime once again became the subject of constitutional inquiry. However, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation applied the same strategy and left the complaint of Mr. Kononov without any in-depth examination of its merits. This time, the Constitutional Court of Russia rejected the complaint of Boris Stepanovich Kononov as inadmissible, citing the following reasons: ‘nationality cannot have any legal significance for the status of the person as a citizen of the Russian Federation, and the notification of the nationality in the passport of the citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be considered as an obligatory component of the content of this document. This circumstance does not deprive citizens of the opportunity to determine and indicate his nationality and, thus, the contested legal regulation cannot be regarded as a violation of the constitutional rights of the applicant.’ The general findings of the Russian Constitutional Court were quite controversial; many questions were left unconsidered by the constitutional judges. Thus, the conclusion that nationality does not have any legal consequences is in contradiction with the provisions of Russian legislation. For instance, according to the Federal Law no. 143 (Art.18(4) the ethnic (national) background plays an important role in the definition of the citizen’s full name, in particular by the indication of the patronymic which can be based also on the national custom.63 Still, the question remains: why can nationality be indicated by the citizen in all other state documents but not in the passport? The Constitutional Court of Russia has also given no explanation regarding the practical implementation of the right to determine and indicate nationality (art.26 (1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). It is likely that in the next few years the issue of nationality notification in the passport will remain one of the most significant political and legal problems in Russia. This conclusion is based on several facts. Firstly, the above mentioned lawsuits in the Constitutional Court of Russia have indicated the problem, but the Russian judiciary has not yet provided a substantial judgement on the merits of the complaint. Secondly, the existing legal regulation regarding the main identity documents of the Russian citizen is still far from perfect. The principal issue continues to be the replacement of the applicable Ukaz provisions from 199764 (presidential decree regulations, i.e. the sublaw act of the executive) through the Federal Law of the Russian Duma (regulation of the Parliament, i.e. the act of the legislature). All in all, the existing mechanism of legal regulation regarding Russian IDs cannot be considered to be in full compliance with the rule of law. In October 2003, the corresponding conclusion was made by the state-building committee of the State Duma: ‘at the present moment the legal status of the identity documents of the citizen of Russia is regulated only by the non-legislative normative acts and this fact does not correspond to the existing standard of the legal regulation of the most crucial social relations in our country primarily by the federal laws and this entails technical and legal problems.’65 Thus, looking into the near future, 63 Federal Law from 15.11.1997 !143-FZ ‘About Acts of civil status (vital record)’. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation from 13.03.1997 N 232 ‘About main identity documents of the citizen of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Russian Federation’ (Ukaz Presidenta RF ot 13.03.1997 ! 232 ‘Ob osnovnom dokumente, udostover’ajushem lichnost’ grazdanina Rossijskoj Federacii na territorii Rossijskoj Federacii’). 65 Opinion of the State-building Committee of the State Duma from 10.10.2003 regarding the draft of the Federal Law (N 369593-3) ‘About main identity documents of the citizen of the Russian Federation’. Exact wording in the Russian language: ‘* "&./)2C## *+#=2 (+&*)*)@ ./&/8. -);8=#"/)*, 8-)./)*#+27C1E $1<")./6 %+&,-&"1"& ?)..11, 8./&")*$#" /)$6;) * ()-9&;)""'E ")+=&/1*"'E (+&*)*'E &;/&E, </) "# .))/*#/./*8#/ .8C#./*87C#=8 ;+1/#+17 (+&*)*)%) +#%8$1+)*&"12 :&9)*'E ):C#./*#""'E )/")>#"1@ * "&>#@ ./+&"# 1=#"") 4#-#+&$6"'=1 9&;)"&=1 1 (+1*)-1/ ; /#E"1;)-7+1-1<#.;1= "#.))/*#/./*12=’. 64 56&$6(8'2&,7&5‹$XWKRU