New Principles of Federalism: Guarantee of Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty of the Russian Federation

Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of constitutional and legal regulation of the issues of Russian federalism, namely the preservation of territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian Federation. Theoretical analysis. The author considers the main results of developments in the Russian Federation and in foreign states in the sphere of ensuring national sovereignty. The author aso looks at the results of the referendum on independence in individual countries, attempts of introduction of new standards of international law directly limiting the sovereignty of states, the instability of the situation in the socio-political spheres of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, Association of regions, Federal districts. The author formulates the thesis that the problem of preservation of territorial integrity, the sovereignty of our country is particularly relevant and requires elaboration of the mechanism for its preservation and maintenance. Since the scope of legal regulation of this issue in the current legislation is insufficient, the author also proposes the ways of improving the Constitution of the Russian Federation, other normative legal acts in terms of securing new principles of federalism and guarantees of their implementation. Results. The author notes that the creation of a mechanism, that would ensure the preservation of the territorial integrity of Russia and would reliably guarantee the unity of our state, is necessary to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state. To this end, the author proposes to include in the Constitution of the Russian Federation the principles of federalism, which could ensure the preservation of the territorial integrity of the state, would become guarantees of state sovereignty in crisis situations. These principles include the following: 1. Ban on holding referendums with separatist issues. 2. The possibility of direct presidential rule. 3. Prohibition of secession including unilaterally. 4. The principle of the supremacy of national legislation. It is also necessary to provide a mechanism to defend their rights in the international arena, to exclude the mandatory application of the decisions of international organizations that threaten state sovereignty.