MOSCOW, January 15 (RAPSI) – In his address to the Federal Assembly on Wednesday Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed to enhance the role played by the Constitutional Court in order to improve the quality of the national legislation and to secure the interests of the country’s citizens.

For this, the President said, the Court needs to be empowered to verify, on Presidential requests, the constitutionality of legislation approved by the Federal Assembly before it is signed by the Head of the State.

At the same time, Vladimir Putin noted, it might be contemplated if the Constitutional Court’s powers should be extended as to the verification of constitutionality of not only laws, but also of other statutory instruments adopted by the state authorities at both the federal and the regional levels.

According to the President, the judiciary, the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, play the key role in ensuring the legitimacy and civil rights. He stressed that professional competence as well as faith in the judiciary must be undisputable. Fairness and the moral right to take decisions affecting human lives had always been of priority in Russia, Vladimir Putin said. The Constitution must guarantee and protect the independence of the judiciary, as well as the principle that judges were to be subordinated only to the Constitution and the federal legislation, the President stressed.