Interfax: Constitutional Court chairman opposed to alteration of constitution

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 14 (Interfax) – The 20-year-old Russian constitution has commendably withstood the test of time, Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said.

“The constitution has been tested during this drastic historic turn in the country’s life,” he told the audience at a conference, “Modern Constitutionalism. Conclusions and Prospects”, in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

“It [the constitution] prevented the country’s plunge into anarchy, set basic rules for our life and assisted in the preservation of the integrity of the Russian state,” Zorkin said.

The constitution “clearly defined democratic priorities of Russia’s development in the legal field, laid the basic normative groundwork for public accord, became a keynote factor of socio-legal stability and provided Russia’s worthy place in the European and global legal space,” the Constitutional Court chairman remarked.