ST. PETERSBURG, November 8 - RAPSI. The Constitutional Court must not become the supervisory instance instead of the Supreme Court or the Supreme Commercial Court, believes Valery Zorkin, the court's chairman.

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled that as soon as its judgment comes into effect, it may not be interpreted otherwise, including in the consideration of cases initiated before the ruling was passed. The court's chairman said that no other Russian court is allowed to reinterpret the provisions of a law which have been examined by the Constitutional Court.

"The Constitutional Court does not claim to be a supervisory instance court in place of the Supreme Court or the Supreme Commercial Court. I believe that any attempts to make it the superior instance in the consideration of lawsuits will end in tears," Zorkin told journalists on Thursday.

If this happens, the judicial system will be buried in the wreckage of disputes, he believes.

"If we consider that there are about 13 million civil cases... and then there are criminal, commercial and administrative cases as well; then they go through other instances... so in total there are about 20-24 million cases," Zorkin said, stressing that the Constitutional Court has more than enough of power as it is.