A Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (Russian: Указ Президента Российской Федерации; Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or Executive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia[1] [2] is a legal act (ukase) with the status of a by-law made by the President of Russia.
As normative legal acts, such have the status of by-laws in the hierarchy of legal acts (along with Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and instructions and directions of other officials). Presidential decrees may not alter existing laws of higher precedence – the Constitution of Russia, Federal Constitutional Laws, Federal Laws and laws of Russian regions and, till the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum, Russia's international agreements, which now however stand in lower precedence than Presidential Decrees or any other Russian state law or obligation – and may be superseded by any of these laws.
In 1992 and 1993 a constant war between President Yeltsin and the Russian parliament became known as "war of laws" when presidential decrees issued by president Yeltsin were overturned by separate legislation adopted by the parliament. The war has reached it's peak in October 1993 when Yeltsin ordered to shoot the parliament building. Following the referendum of 1993 which resulted in the enacting of new constitution, many decrees issued by Yeltsin, a process which was was shrinking as the legislative vacuum filled-in by enacting of various laws thus limiting the range of presidential discretion.[3]