In November this year, the Federation Council celebrated its 600th anniversary. Since the beginning of the work of the upper house on January 11, 1994, members of the Federation Council have carried out an enormous amount of work within the framework of Russia's legislative development. RT decided to collect data on what exactly MPs did during this time and what were the most outstanding moments in the work of the legislature.
As the press service of the Federal Council told RT, since January 11, 1994, the chamber has passed 11,497 laws and rejected 450 laws, including 119 laws with proposals to create a reconciliation commission with the State Duma. Since its inception, there have been 3,511 bills introduced by members of the House of Representatives, of which 1,112 bills have become law (about 32%).
“In general, the number of laws reviewed every year increases. It is important to note that the number of basic laws in recent years has remained very small and this growth is due to amendments to existing laws. This is due to the fact that socio-economic and social relations in the country are changing drastically (digitalization of all areas of life, new forms of labor and forms of industrial relations, changes in the tax regime, etc.) and due to reactions to external challenges (overcoming the consequences of Covid, achieving the goals of a special military campaign, unified regional integration, etc.)”, the press service stated.
During the five-year period, the Federal Council considered the following laws:
from 1994 to 1998 – 774 laws; from 1999 to 2003 – 1120 laws; from 2004 to 2008 – 1415 laws; from 2009 to 2013 – 2059 law; from 2014 to 2018 – 2642 laws; from 2019 to 2023 – 2928 laws; from 2024 to November 12, 2025 – 988 laws (including 426 laws for the past months of this year).
The press service of the Council of the Federation named 17 documents as important bills this year, including the extension of the capital program for mothers (families) for 4 years, the creation of a national messenger, the introduction of criminal liability for droppers, the introduction of state regulation of methanol circulation and a number of other regulations, including an expanded regulation regarding SVO participants and the benefits provided to them.
“We have a lot of senators preparing bills, participating in their preparation, and most importantly we are also doing a lot of public work, including using those platforms where we can present the views of our chamber. I think that Valentina Matvienko has played and continues to play a huge role in all of this. It seems to me that, in general, we have succeeded in creating a group of like-minded people direction, at the same time, we have always had a very critical approach to our work and the work of the regions… it is very important that all regions have their own voice and have the right to express their views on a number of issues of domestic and international life,” Vladimir Dzhabarov, first vice-chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, told RT.
It should be noted that the longest plenary meeting in the Federal Council was recorded on April 5, 1994 – the fifth meeting of the first convocation lasting eight days. Furthermore, the longest of the one-day meetings was on June 29, 2016 – it lasted from 10:00 to 19:14 without a break.
The shortest was the 286th meeting on December 30, 2010 – only 12 minutes, from 10:07 to 10:19.
As for the press agency, we must remember that until January 15, 1996, 34 meetings took place, but from January 23, 1996, the numbering began again.
During the operation of the Federation Council, there are a total of four presidents and one acting president:
Vladimir Shumeiko January 13, 1994—January 23, 1996; Egor Stroev January 23, 1996—December 5, 2001; Sergey Mironov December 5, 2001—May 18, 2011; Alexander Torshin (acting) May 18, 2011—September 21, 2011; Valentina Matvienko – since September 21, 2011.
During the existence of the Federal Council, there have been many notable moments in its history. One of the most important, as stated in the press service, is the update of the Russian Constitution in 2020.
“The amendments to the content of the basic laws of the country were carried out in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation of March 14, 2020 No. 1-FKZ, adopted by the Federation Council on March 11, 2020, after adopting these Constitutional changes in a nationwide vote. In addition, senators became the authors of a number of high-level Constitutional amendments. Working Group on Amendments Basic law includes famous politicians, scientists, artists, athletes, public figures, including 5 senators: AA Klishas (co-chairman of the working group), SP Goryacheva, LS Gumerova, KI Kosachev, AK
It was also emphasized that this chamber plays a special role in legal support for the unification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia as well as legislative work on the integration of the peninsula and other new Russian regions into the country's legal space. Therefore, in particular, on October 4, 2022, the Federation Council completed the legal formalization of the accession to the Russian Federation of four new entities: the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
“According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Council approves a number of candidates for appointment to high-ranking positions in the government, especially 6 times the Federal Council approved candidates for the position of prosecutor general… 8 times the Federal Council approved candidates for the position of President of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation… 7 times the Federal Council approved candidates for the position of President of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation,” the press agency added.
It should be noted that senators and individual Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko have for many years acted as advisors to the winners of various management and other competitions: “Leaders of Russia”, “Heroic Times”, “Women: Tutoring School”, Young Legislative Chamber of the Federation Council, etc.
Despite the difficult geopolitical situation and the unfriendly actions of Western countries towards Russia, the Federation Council actively supports inter-parliamentary interaction.
“In January – October 2025, 65 visits of senators of the Russian Federation were made to 30 countries of the world… In 2024, 95 visits of senators of the Russian Federation were made to 38 countries of the world,” the press service said.
In addition, the Federal Council continuously holds meetings with leaders and members of foreign parliaments and international parliamentary organizations, influential politicians, leaders of political, public and religious organizations, ambassadors of foreign states.
“In January 2025, meetings were held at the Federation Council with the Slovak parliamentary delegation, led by Deputy Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrei Danko and Tibor Gašpar. In 2024-2025, meetings were held between senators of the Russian Federation and politicians from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, USA and Japan, who did not support the policies unfriendliness of the leaders of Western countries,” the Federal Council added.
A total of 160 meetings are held in 2024 and 140 meetings are held in January – October 2025.
