The Federation Council is the «upper» chamber of the Federal Assembly, a legislative (representative) body of Russia. To date, the existing legal structure «Federal Assembly — Parliament of the Russian Federation» is a set of two permanent chambers of Russia — the State Duma and the Federation Council. The division of Parliament into two chambers makes it possible both to ensure the representation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the legislative body of the country and to prevent possible arbitrariness of the sole administration of Parliament [6, p. 41]. The current constitutional provisions of article 94 reveal that the Federal Assembly is a legislative and representative body [1]. It follows that not only the State Duma takes an active part in the legislative process, but also the Federation Council. This thesis makes it possible to conclude that the Federation Council means representation of interests of Russian subjects within the framework of the process of adoption of normative and legal acts.

In view of the fact that the legislative body of the Russian Federation is an activity organized on the basis of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Federal laws — the «upper» and «lower» chambers, the corresponding question arises of the formation of one of the existing chambers, namely the Federation Council.

The procedure for the formation of the Federation Council has been further amended both on the basis of Federal Law No. 229-ФЗ of 3 December 2012 [2] and on the basis of amendments to the said law. Since earlier changes within the framework of the formation of this body were made in 2011, and before that in 1995, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2007, we can conclude accordingly that the Federation Council is one of the institutions of power that undergoes the greatest reforms in the modern realities of Russia.

Thus, on the basis of the above information, we propose to refer to the history of reforming the procedure for the formation of the Upper Chamber of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

December 12, 1993 is considered a significant date for the Russian Federation, as it was on that day that the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which is still in force today, was adopted at a State-wide referendum. The Basic Law of the country adopted by the people indicated the need to form a bicameral Parliament, which means that the normative provisions of the Constitution served as a trigger on the way to the formation of the Federation Council. But at the very beginning of the way it was not without problems in this area and conflicts.

For example, Section II, paragraph 7, provides for the election of the Federation Council of the first convocation for two years [1]. However, Federal Act No. 192-ФЗ of 5 December 1995 created contradictions between the Constitution and the law. Thus, the above-mentioned normative and legal act regulated a different procedure for the election of the Upper Chamber of the Russian Federation: the Federation Council consisted of heads of both legislative and executive power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation [5]. And, as we can see from this Federal Law, the formation was carried out according to the position.

In 2000, the next regulatory instrument was adopted, amending the procedure for the formation of the Upper Chamber of the Federal Assembly, namely Federal Law No. 113-ФЗ. The normative provisions of the above-mentioned law established the following algorithm for the election of members to the Federation Council: the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as the legislative bodies of the relevant constituent entities, appointed one representative from their region [4].

However, the said, established order soon began to undergo frequent changes. For example, 2004 year in the sphere of the order of formation of the Upper Chamber of the Federal Assembly brought innovations to Federal Law No. 113. This time, the reform concerned some aspects of the procedure for the appointment and termination of a member of the Federation Council. As for 2006, during this period the changes concerned the requirements for candidates for the post of member of the Federation Council: persons with dual citizenship could not be elected to the Upper House of Parliament, as well as persons with an appropriate document confirming their permanent residence in the territory of the State of another country.

In 2007, another adjustment was introduced imposing new requirements on candidates for the Federation Council. Many authors refer to this novel as the «residence code» [6, p. 42], which in its essence provided for the obligation of a future member of the Federation Council to live in the relevant entity for a minimum of 10 years. However, shortly in 2009, this requirement was repealed due to the entry into force of Federal Law No. 21-ФЗ [3].

To date, in the Russian Federation, the procedure for forming the Federation Council of the Russian Federation is regulated by Federal Law No. 229 of 3 December 2012. This law, on the basis of our observations, is considered the most stable, compared to other normative and legal acts in the sphere of formation of the Federation Council, as after seven years it has undergone a small share of amendments, and today it is still the current law, which has not lost legal force.

A notable change in the requirements for candidates to be appointed as a member of the Federation Council is article 5, paragraph 2, of Federal Law No. 229. Thus, this paragraph does not allow to open, as well as to have candidates and, accordingly, members of the Upper Chamber accounts and deposits, money in foreign banks located outside the Russian Federation [2]. We consider this reform reasonable.

Thus, having followed the changes in the legal and regulatory provisions in the field of the formation of the Federation Council, we paid special attention to the frequency of changes in this sphere. In our opinion, the repeated changes in the procedure for the formation of the Federation Council indicate the attempts of the State to choose the optimal way to form the Upper Chamber of the Parliament of the Russian Federation.

However, we see that these numerous attempts on the part of the State have not been able to have any influence on subjectivity and volutarism in the formation of the Federation Council [6, p. 45], which clearly demonstrates the issues in this area. First of all, the Federation Council of Russia should be formed from qualified officials who know the problems and specifics of a subject.

In the light of the above, it should be noted that reforms in this aspect should be carried out in strict compliance with the current Agreement of the Russian Federation. These reforms depend on a diverse approach to the problem. It was therefore important to treat every decision taken, which changed a given sphere of activity, responsibly and subjected them to a comprehensive and in-depth analysis.