A N A LY S I S ASCENT AND DECLINE OF RUSSIAN ELECTORAL LEGISLATION Andrei Buzin January 2024 From 1988 to 2022, the Russian electoral legislative landscape underwent notable transformations. The founda­tional shifts occurred with the issuance of Presidential Decrees in 1993 and the enactment of the Law on Guarantees of Electoral Rights in 1994, marking crucial milestones in post-perestroika Russian legal evolution. The laws implemented between 1997 and 2002 brought Rus­sian electoral legislation into alignment with international standards. Despite these ad­vancements, the trends in the development of the state and political systems exhibited incon­gruities with the concurrent ame­lioration of the legal framework. Commencing in 2004, the pro­gression of electoral legislation entered a retrogressive phase. The incremental, though uneven, deterioration of the legisla­tive framework culminated in its degradation and inherent contradictions, manifesting non-conformity with both international electoral standards and Rus­sia’s constitution­al mandates.