The status of the prosecutor: a process of evolution or involution?

The article considers the key stages of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation development, beginning with the concept of judicial reform in the RSFSR in 1991 and the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and ending with the changes in the constitutional status of the Prosecutor's Office in the light of the amendments to the Basic Law in 2014 and 2020. The role of the prosecutor’s office in the legal system of the state is also analysed. The main trends are considered and some problems in the formulation of the procurator's office legal status are identified. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the current wording of Article 1 of the Federal Law «On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation», that excludes the indication of the prosecutor's authority to act on behalf of the Russian Federation. The probable reasons and possible consequences of this legislative decision, its inconsistency with the norms of procedural legislation, in particular those regulating the status and powers of the prosecutor in criminal and civil proceedings, are considered.