The article is focused on the problem of the relationship between the Center and the regions under the «new centralism» in Russia. In the author’s opinion, recent developments within the Russian federal system continue the logic of its transformation in the previous period. This may be retraced both at the institutional level and at the level of the strategies of its main actors. The main motive force of the development of the Russian federal system throughout the past year have been informal practices. They have a double function, being simultaneously one of the system characteristics and one of the most important elements of the strategies of the Center and the regions.