Federation or conglomeration? The phenomen of Russia's mechanism of government

The article considers the problem of classification of the state structure of Russia. According to the authors’ conception, despite the fact that according to the Constitution Russia is a federal state, really it is a conglomerate of territories, with different political status, beyond the scope of asymmetric federation. The authors provide justification for the hypothesis that Russia is a conglomeration unifying territorial entities with a unitary, federal or confederative status, as well as associated territories.