Russell later served in the second Sturgeon government as Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland's Place in Europe from August 2016 to June 2018.

Russell was elected President of the SNP in November 2020 and resigned from this position in December 2023 ahead of his appointment as Chairman of the Scottish Land Commission.

Russell continued as a political commentator, generating some controversy with his strongly free market views in his book, Grasping The Thistle, in which he called for the NHS to be abolished and replaced with an insurance based healthcare system.

[7] In November 2020 he was elected to the honorary position of SNP President[22] – having campaigned on a platform of holding an independence referendum in autumn 2021.

[23] In response to Operation Branchform and the arrest of Peter Murrell, Russell claimed that the Scottish National Party was facing its biggest crisis in 50 years.

[25] For many years, Russell has campaigned for justice on behalf of former police detective, Shirley McKie, who was awarded £750,000 compensation by the Scottish Executive in a February 2006 out-of-court settlement.

The Justice 1 committee of the Scottish Parliament conducted a nine-month inquiry into the McKie case in 2006, and its report was published on 15 February 2007.

[27] Megrahi's appeal began in Edinburgh on 28 April 2009,[28] and a public inquiry into the McKie case started in Glasgow on 2 June 2009.

In his book, Russell said of Glasgow: "Pull over and stop the car (if you dare) and walk into the closes smelling of urine and rubbish, cluttered with dirt and debris.

The Scottish capital was also described in a less than positive light: "The flag on Edinburgh Castle is an awful mutant tablecloth and the National Trust for Scotland is arrogant and elitist.

"The MSP was reported to Holyrood's standards watchdog after a leaked email revealed he quizzed SNP councillors about their support for the axing of local schools.

[45] "The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the body which represents council leaders, has now written to Mr Russell accusing him of failing to act in a "consistent, pragmatic and limited way".

Since August 1992 the family have lived in an 18th-century single storey farm dwelling in Glendaruel on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute.

[10][49] Russell previously separated from his wife for a time after he lost his seat at Holyrood in 2003 and had an affair with his researcher Eilidh Bateman.