The powers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to regulate the institution of local government in law

The paper deals with the theoretical, constitutional and legal aspects of the powers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the field of local government from the viewpoint of legal regulation of this important institution of the modern Russian society. The research analyzes the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law on General Principles of Local Government in the Russian Federation as of October 06, 2003, other federal and regional laws, treatises on the problems stated. The author notes that the legislative bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation carry out this legal regulation. Compared to the previous federal municipal law of 1995 and the first version of the federal law of 2003, its current draft reduces the powers of the above-mentioned legislative bodies. The study proves that this phenomenon is caused less by the desire of the federal legislator to centralize the legal regulation of social relations in the field of local government than by the inadequate law-making potential of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.