Afanasyev S.D.

Since the 1990s has been a trend of active interaction between the state and confessions in the Russian Federation, expressed, inter alia, in the practice of concluding agreements (contracts) of Executive authorities and religious organizations. At the same time, the legislation on freedom of conscience and on religious associations does not contain normative bases for the conclusion of such agreements, in connection with which the legal qualification of their nature is significantly complicated. The article analyzes the content of state-confessional agreements, offers conclusions about their place in the system of sources of Russian constitutional law and the need to introduce legislative regulation of the procedure for concluding such agreements as guarantees and protection of constitutional principles and subjective rights of citizens.