Birmontiene Toma, 2020 Amendments to the Russian Constitution – Change of the Constitution or Its Collapse?

The constitution is supreme law and, when enacted, it is intended not only to be legally perfect, but also to be relevant for long decades and remain in line with the social, political and legal realities of the time. Changes in social life inevitably lead to changes in constitutional provisions. Even an unchanging text of a constitution, which has been in force for decades, inevitably changes by virtue of the power exercised by the institutions applying the constitution. This is why, through the power exercised by the institutions applying and interpreting its provisions, i.e. courts, the constitution – an act of direct application – remains relevant over several centuries, as in the case of the US Constitution of 1787, the formal amendment of which is particularly complex. Without the power of the US Supreme Court to interpret the provisions of the Constitution, its articles would not breathe the spirit of the twenty-first century. Thus, change of the constitution is an inevitable...