The basis of the current and future Russian legal system has been determined in the Constitution of 1993, which proclaims Russia to be a democratic federal law-based state with a republican form of government. Like the basic laws of the majority of the other post-communist states, the constitution balances description with prescription. It is a transformational document, which accepts reality while aspiring to something greater. Therefore, discussing the laws of Russia and of the other former Soviet republics (all of which during the last five years adopted new Constitutions), we have to take into account the realities of political life, which may explain many existing difficulties with the implementation of all these laws.