Status of international agreements in the Russian constitutional law

International agreements are an important element stabilizing the international law and Russia’s relations with other countries. Bordering with 14 countries and being a politically active member of several dozen international organizations, Russia is a party to the vast number of contracts and international agreements concluded between countries as well as international organizations. In April 1986, the Soviet Union ratified the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 22 May 1969. After the changes in the political system, the Russian Federation as the successor to the Soviet Union defined the status of international agreements in the Constitution of 12 December 1993 in the Federal Law of 15 July 1995 on the international treaties of the Russian Federation and the Federal Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this article is to present the status of international agreements of the Russian Federation, in particular the primacy of international law over national laws – in the light of Federal Constitutional Law, case law and the doctrine, including latest changes in the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of December 2015.