concept of local self-government. The territorial foundations of local self-government appear to be subject to the greatest changes.
At present, there is a single-level model of local self-government in Russia (municipalities of different levels are only allowed in some entities). In addition, the current legislation does not provide for differences between the municipalities (with limited exceptions). The new Federal Law requires the creation of five types of municipalities: urban and rural settlements, municipal districts, urban districts, and intra-city areas of federally significant cities. At the same time, the territories of urban and rural settlements are part of the territories of municipal districts, but they are independent municipalities, i.e., two-level local self-government is in place in these territories. Territories of urban districts are not part of the territories of municipal districts, so a single-level local autonomy is in place there.
A feature of the new Law is that each type of municipality is meant to resolve only intrinsic local issues, i.e. the local issues of a settlement do not coincide with the local issues of municipal and urban districts. This kind of innovation is a welcome development. It is intended to fix the current situation where municipalities like a million-plus city and a settlement with a population of several hundred people have the same powers despite the obvious incompatibility of their economic, social and demographic potentials.
It is also important that different municipalities will have different sources of income, calculated on the basis of their needs. This fully corresponds to one of the principles of administrative reform frequently heard lately: "Money follows authority."
As a result of the reform, there should be about 30,000 municipalities instead of the 12,000 currently existing in the Russian Federation.
The law also provides for the specifics of implementing local self-governme...