Quite a considerable number of Candidate and Doctor dissertations on the party themes have been defended for the incomplete 20 years that have passed since the official recognition in our country of political science. What is reflected in them is, on the whole, the real, very contradictory process of parties construction in Russia and of the formation of a new party system both at the federal at the regional levels. The author of this scientific review thoroughly analyzes the basic conclusions of a whole number of theses defended since the beginning of the current century and considering general questions and concrete aspects of the Russian legislation on parties, stages of parties construction, typology of contemporary Russian parties, Russian «power parties», the crisis of modern political parties, parties’ electoral activities.