Russia is officially a federal semi-presidential republic according to its constitution, with a structure that includes a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The government is divided into three branches: legislative (Federal Assembly), executive (president and government), and judiciary (courts including the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court)

. However, in practice, Russia functions as an authoritarian regime with significant power concentrated in the hands of President Vladimir Putin. The political system has evolved from a flawed democracy in the 1990s to a consolidated authoritarian state, often described as a dictatorship or personalist regime under Putin's leadership. This has involved democratic backsliding and autocratization, with Putin's rule sometimes characterized as "Putinism"

. The Russian Federation is a federation of various federal subjects (oblasts, republics, krais, autonomous okrugs, federal cities, and one autonomous oblast), but these regions do not have sovereignty and are subject to central government authority

. In summary, Russia's government is constitutionally a federal semi- presidential republic, but in reality, it operates as an authoritarian regime dominated by a strong presidency.