The two houses of the Federal Assembly are physically separated, with the State Duma residing in another part of Moscow on Okhotny Ryad Street.

[2][3] The modern history of the Federation Council begins during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis that pitted President Boris Yeltsin's unpopular neoliberal and governmental structure reforms against the increasingly radical Congress of People's Deputies, the nation's legislature.

The decree effectively scrapped constitutional reform then in discussion, as well as legally dissolving the Congress of People's Deputies, ordering its replacement with an entirely new federal legislative structure, and granting the president increased executive powers.

Following a war of words and acts of defiance from both sides, President Yeltsin abruptly ended the governmental power struggle by ordering the Russian army to bombard and storm the White House of Russia, the legislative building, between 2–4 October 1993.

Following the crushing of the Congress of People's Deputies and other members of the federal and territorial governments who had initially supported what he viewed as a rebellious legislature, Yeltsin presented a new constitution.

The procedure of the formation of the Federation Council through elections held according to a majority system was defined by Presidential Decrees No.

1628, on 11 October, stipulating that candidates for the first elections needed at least two percent, or 25,000 signatures—whichever was highest—of their oblast, republic, krai, autonomous okrug, or federal city population.

While the State Duma held many of the serious debates on Russian policy during this time, the Council became a lobby for regional interests, competing for federal attention.

The ascension of President Vladimir Putin following Yeltsin's resignation on 31 December 1999 brought many new changes to the Federation Council.

As part of his top political goals in his first months of office in 2000, Putin proposed a reform law to change the makeup of the Council, which would allow regional governors to designate councillors but not sit on the Council themselves, freeing it from what Putin saw as blatant personal cronyism on the part of regional leaders.

The Council furiously resisted Putin's plan, conscious that their role in federal politics, their very ability to enjoy the fruits of living within Moscow, and their parliamentary immunity would end.

However, critics have charged that Putin's tactics in reforming the Council were blatantly undemocratic and anti-federal, arguing that the reforms created a rubber stamp body for the executive branch and the ruling United Russia party, similar to what the Soviet of Nationalities was during the Soviet period.

Some of the Chairman's official duties include presiding over sessions, formulating and introducing draft agendas, issuing orders and consulting with the Council's various committees, acting as the Council's official representative in the Federal Assembly, and signing resolutions to be forwarded to the president or the State Duma.

Unlike the State Duma and the provincial legislatures throughout Russia, the Council is not directly elected but instead is chosen by territorial politicians, resembling in some respects the structure of the U.S. Senate before the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

On 1 January 2013, the latest Law on the Procedure to Form the Federation Council entered into force: according to the Law, the Federation Council consists of two delegates from each Russian constituent component, one representing the given region's legislative assembly and the other representing the provincial executive authorities.

The regional executive authority representative, the second type of delegate to the Federation Council, is appointed by the governor of that constituent component (or the head of that autonomous republic).

Because of its federalist design and its voting franchise being strictly limited to provincial elites, the Council is viewed as less susceptible to radical changes.

Federal laws concerning budgets, customs regulations, credit monitoring, and the ratification of international treaties are to be considered by the Council after they have been adopted by the State Duma, where most legislation is introduced.