On June 18, 2020, the Council of Europe's Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) published its opinion [3] on draft amendments to the Russian Constitution that address the extent to which international agreements, treaties, and the decisions of international bodies apply to Russia. In particular, the draft amendments make three main changes: (1) they prohibit the execution of decisions of interstate bodies where such decisions contradict the Russian Constitution; (2) they empower the Constitutional Court to decide upon questions concerning the enforcement of decisions by such bodies; and (3) they make amendments to several other provisions affecting the Constitutional Court, including empowering the Federation Council to dismiss Constitutional Court judges upon proposal (rather than by the agreement of two-thirds of the acting judges on the Court) “in the event of conduct by them that discredits the honour and dignity of a judge, as well as in other cases provided for in federal constitutional law that are indicative of judges' inability to discharge their duties.” The Venice Commission opinion notes the Commission's concern

that the proposed amendments enlarge the possibilities for the Russian Constitutional Court to declare that decisions of interstate bodies adopted on the basis of provisions of international treaties of the Russian Federation which collide with the Constitution may not be executed in the Russian Federation. Indeed, the proposed amendments use the notion “contrary to the Constitution”, which is too broad a formula, broader than that of current Article 79 (“limit[ing] the rights and freedoms of the individual and the citizen or contradict[ing] the fundamentals of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation”).