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The Russian Federation belongs to the small group of States which have enacted special legislation on the domestic procedures with respect to international treaties. The new Federal Law on International Treaties, which was adopted by the Russian State Duma on 16 June 1995, regulates the procedure for the conclusion, fullfillment, and termination of treaties of the Russian Federation. The 1995 Law replaces the Law on the Procedure for the Conclusion, Execution, and Denunciation of International Treaties of the U.S.S.R of 6 July 1978. The present introduction to the new law draws attention in particular to the fact that, although many rules of the new law are patterned along the model of the old law, the new law has a different significance within the new Russian constitutional framework. This is at least true for those rules which determine the respective powers of the State Duma and the President. Rules, which, under a system of unity of state power, could be considered as having a mere technical character, acquire political significance under a system of separation of powers. Noteworthy are, therefore, in particular those rules which give the State Duma powers which surpass those of the legislatures in most Western countries (power of initiatives and of compulsion to conclude and to terminate a treaty). Since, however, the new law does not possess constitutional rank, it is probable that the Russian Constitutional Court will have to decide upcoming disputes as to whether the law has correctly specified the general rules which are laid down in the constitution. (ZaöRv/SWP)