The place of the prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation in the system of public authority

Abstract

The Russian system of separation of powers, having a classic triune form, includes the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, which is enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. However, the de facto range of bodies established by the State and endowed with public authority is much wider, and includes, among other things, the prosecutor’s office. Meanwhile, its place as a whole in the system of separation of powers, and in relation, for example, to the judicial branch of government, is not quite unambiguously fixed in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the author sees the main purpose of the article in identifying the essential differences between the prosecutor’s office and in determining its place in the system of separation of powers. The analysis highlights the functions of supervision, criminal prosecution, coordination of law enforcement activities, as well as the law-making function. Various approaches to assessing the role of the prosecutor’s office in the system of separation of powers are considered, namely, the role of the prosecutor’s office as an exclusively state supervisory body; as a special body; as a body providing a system of costs and balances; as a component of the judicial branch of government. The article analyzes the transformation of the status of the prosecutor’s office as a result of the constitutional reforms carried out in 2014 and 2020. As a result, the conclusion is formulated that the prosecutor’s office belongs to state bodies that are not part of the circle of state authorities, and its special status is also emphasized.