Elected legislative body that, with the State Council, constituted the imperial Russian legislature (1906–17). It had only limited power to control spending and initiate legislation, and the four Dumas that convened (1906, 1907, 1907–12, 1912–17) rarely enjoyed the cooperation of the ministers or the emperor, who retained the right to rule by decree when the Duma was not in session. In the Soviet era, soviets were the basic unit of government.
After the fall of the Soviet Union (1991), the Russian parliament (composed of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet) exercised legislative responsibilities until 1993, when conflicts with Pres. Boris Yeltsin reached a crisis. Parliament's revolt was suppressed by military force, and a new constitution established a new parliament composed of a Federation Council (in which all 89 of Russia's republics and regions have equal representation) and a Duma, with 450 members, half elected through proportional representation on a party basis and half through single-member constituencies. The president may override and even dissolve the legislature under certain circumstances.
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