5 Million Citizens

Moscow (AP) - Nearly 5 million eth­nic Russians scattered across the former Soviet Union after its breakup were granted Russian citizenship over the last 10 years, Deputy Interior Minister Alex­ander Chekalin told the State Duma on Wednesday.

More than 1 million moved to Rus­sia from Kazakhstan, some 600,000 from Ukraine and 256,000 from Uzbekistan, Interfax quoled Chekalin as saying.

He said thataboul half a million peo­ple are given Russian citizenship every year.

He also said that up to 2.5 million people are staying in Russia illegally, and that some 200,000 arrive every year.

The British State System

Great Britain is a state of the constitutional monarchy. That means that at the head of the state is monarch (Queen or King). But the power of the monarch is not absolute, it is greatly limited by parliament.

The British state system comprises three main ruling bodies -monarchy, parliament and government.

The monarchy, which is the most ancient institution in the U K, goes back to the 9^th century. The monarch is the head of the execu­tive, an integral part of the legislature and the head of the judiciary. However, the monarch can only act on the advice of the ministers and parliament. That's why it is often said that the monarch reigns but does not rule. The powers of the monarch are to summon, pro­rogue and dissolve parliament, to make appointments to important state offices, to dismiss top officials, to conclude and cancel trea­ties, to declare war and to make peace.

Parliament is also an ancient institution dating from the begin­ning of the 13^th century. It is the supreme legislative body of the UK.

The major functions of Parliament are legislating bills, raising money through taxation, examining government policy, and debat­ing important political issues.

British Parliament is made up of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons, The members of the House of Lords are not elected. They sit in Parliament because they have in­herited their seats from their fathers or have titles.

The House of Commons is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years.

The government that is responsible for administration ofnational affairs represents the Executive.

The modern government is a body of over a hundred ministers and other officials arranged in about fifteen departments. New de­partments may be created, others may be abolished and functions may be transferred from one minister to another.

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Unit 7

I. The Social Profile and State Structure

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