Probleme der Rechtsnachfolge von der Sowjetunion auf die Russische Föderation

What is it about?

This article analyses the problems of the legal succession from the former USSR to the Russian Federation. The analysis begins with a short review of the emergence of the USSR and the evaluation of its legal status. The USSR was established in 1922 as a federal state having even some characteristics of a confederation (like the “right of free exit” from the Union). However, due to the fact that the material holder of the sovereignty was not the constitutional state machinery but the communist party, which was a highly hierarchical organisation based on the strict subordination, the USSR was in fact an extremely centralized unitarian state. Further, the article deals with the issue of the juridical qualification of the dissolution of the USSR. It provides an overview of the arguments both in favour of the extinction of the USSR (in the form of dismemberment) and those supporting the factual continuity of the Soviet Union by Russian Federation (contemporary Russia is a residual USSR). In so doing, the article conducts an examination of: (1) the sovereignty- and independence declarations of the former Soviet republics, (2) the establishing acts of the CIS, (3) the issue of the membership in international organisations, and (4) the reaction of the international community of states. Also, the article considers the legal praxis of the Russian Federation and in particular the doctrine of the so called “continuing state” which also allows Russia to use all the advantages connected with (at least partial) identity with the USSR and to reject any associations with the Soviet Union should they involve any disadvantages. Summing up the article, the author makes a conclusion that the dismemberment of the USSR took place only formally, while practically its existence is continued by the today’s Russian Federation.

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