MOSCOW, February 06. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved on Thursday an amendment to the Russian Constitution that provides for merging the Supreme Court with the Court of Arbitration, the Kremlin press service reports.

President Putin submitted a bill on constitutional amendment concerning the Russian Supreme Court and the Russian Prosecutor’s Office to the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament on October 7 last year. The State Duma passed the bill on November 22, 2013. The Russian Federation Council or parliament’s upper house unanimously voted for the bill five days later.

The presidential amendment to the Russian Constitution had been discussed by local Legislative Assemblies in Russian regions. The Russian Federation Council approved the final results of that discussion on January 28, 2014. A resolution adopted by the upper house of Russian parliament says that the legislatures in all Russian regions and territories had approved the presidential amendment.

The same day, the lawmakers approved a package of presidential bills aimed at implementing the constitutional amendment “On the Russian Supreme Court”, “The Procedure of Selecting Candidates to the Original Composition of the Russian Supreme Court” and the accompanying amendments to the constitutional law “On the Russian Judicial System.