“The recent XIII International Forum on Constitutional Law that was held in St. Petersburg was marked by a public warning from Valery Zorkin, chair of the Constitutional Court, that ‘Russia, if she wishes, can leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights’. At the same time, the judges of the Constitutional Court announced the introduction of a certain ‘mechanism of defence of national sovereignty’ that will allow the Russian authorities not to implement decisions of the European Court of Human Rights where they differ from positions taken by the Constitutional Court. This comes as no surprise. For a long time now Russia has not had a Constitutional Court that issues rulings which could be called the apex of legal thought, a Court that would make its rulings without looking over its shoulder at the authorities and their expectations, a Court that would affirm irreproachable legal approaches. Today the talk is increasingly of the degradation of the Constitutional Court. [...] Now the chair of the Constitutional Court has descended to practically calling for the Russian Constitution to be ignored, since his statements directly contradict Article 15 Section 4 of this very Constitution which establishes the priority of international agreements recognized by Russia, as formulated thus: “4. Generally-recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation shall be an integral part of its legal system. If other rules have been established by an international treaty of the Russian Federation than provided for by a law, the rules of the international treaty shall apply.” [...] Article 15 is one of the key norms of the Russian Constitution and contains a guarantee that in Russia, independently of rulers and their expectations, of the political situation and of whosoever’s wishes, the most fundamental international standards must be observed, and this is irrevocable. Now, in order to please those currently in power, who await with horror the latest decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the most important Russian cases, the chair of the Constitutional Court, basing himself on a false understanding of state sovereignty, has proposed that the binding nature of the decisions of the European Court be put in question.” - from 'The "Evolution" of Zorkin Might Result in the Undermining of the Constitutional Foundation of Russia', Ezhenedelnyi zhurnal, 2 December 2010