Introduction. Public control is an attribute of a developed civil society in the state. In Russia, the Federal law regulating the procedure for public control was adopted in 2014. This law has established a limited range of subjects of public control in Russia, however, current legislation indicates the actual inclusion of other subjects not stipulated in the law in this mechanism. A citizen of the Russian Federation is not directly listed by the Federal law as a subject of public control, however, the law provides for forms of participation of citizens in the process under consideration. Theoretical analysis. Russia today stands on the path of democratic transformation of all state institutions. The implementation of fundamental constitutional provisions regarding the recognition of human and civil rights and freedoms as the highest value is impossible without the functioning of instruments of public control over the activities of public authorities. Developed democracy presupposes the exercise of public control by the entire multi-level system of civil society institutions, with the citizen at the center. Empirical analysis. The analysis of the content of the Federal law “On fundamentals of public control in the Russian Federation” from the point of view of consolidation of constituent entities of social control and forms of its implementation, allows to conclude that, in fact, the law duplicated the forms of social control and subject composition fixed earlier by the Federal law “On Public chamber of the Russian Federation. The current legislation indicates that the central link in the number of subjects of public control are public chambers and public councils operating in Russia and that there are no legal guarantees of citizen participation in the implementation of public control. Results. The current development of the procedure for implementing public control in Russia implies the need for legislative consolidation of direct forms of participation of citizens of the Russian Federation in this mechanism. Direct forms of such participation can be: appeals to state authorities and local self-government bodies in the form of proposals with wide public awareness via Internet resources; participation of citizens in the electoral process as public observers; participation as a member of the public chamber of any territorial level of the organization; participation as members of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit associations; participation as public inspectors and experts on the initiative of Russian citizens.