PROBLEMS OF FEDERALISM IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
This article reveals the concept and features of federalism as a form of state structure and as a principle of relations between the federal center and the subjects. The author analyzes the existing problems in organizing a federal structure in Russia, such as the economic and political inequality of regions, asymmetries of Russian regions, centralization processes that negatively affect the independence of subjects. One of the central problems, according to the author, is the problem of budget federalism, which consists in the lack of a competent mechanism for the interaction of budgets of various levels: federal, regional and local. Studying the data of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the author concludes that the above problem is aggravated by the huge debt of the regions to the state, which is increasing annually, thereby negatively affecting the standard of living of citizens. The article also focuses on the problem of political and economic inequality of the regions. The author believes that a different level of subsidies only strengthens the trends in the uneven distribution of resources and inevitably leads to a high level of poverty in some regions compared to others. At the end of the article, the author carries out a comparative analysis of the Swiss model of decentralized federalism with the Russian one and concludes that the Swiss experience is more positive and, therefore, it is absolutely necessary to use it in order to prevent negative trends in centralizing power and exacerbating existing problems. The experience of Switzerland is that the independence and autonomy of its cantons provides a generally high standard of living for the population, therefore, the tendency of a gradual and moderate rejection of the policy of centralization, according to the author, can give positive results in our country in the future.