The structure of Russian legislative process: its stages and steps

The research proposes and substantiates the novel approach to classifying the stages of and the steps in the legislative process as a pivotal element of law-making. Having analyzed the current legislation of the Russian Federation, legislative practices and procedures, and studies on this issue, the author describes the pre-parliamentary, parliamentary, and post-parliamentary stages. They can be divided into the following steps: introduction of a bill, discussion of a bill, adoption of a law, promulgation of law and coming into force. The research critically examines the divergent views of legal experts on the number and content of the steps in the evolving legislative process and its stages. The author concludes that this process should be developed in both theoretical and practical terms based on previous practices in this regard.