Putin backs ‘freeze’

President pushes for change that would keep him in power

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin revealed his tightly guarded political plans and supported a constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek re-election in 2024 by restarting the term count.

The constitutional change would pave the way for 67year-old Mr Putin to stay in office until 2036, if he desires.

A politician who is revered in Russia as the first woman to fly in space proposed either scrapping Russia’s two-term limit for presidents or stopping the clock so the law wouldn’t apply to Mr Putin’s time in office.

The Russian leader and the lower house of parliament quickly endorsed the proposal put forward by 83-year-old former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Kremlin critics denounced the move as cynical manipulation and called for protests.

Politicians also passed a set of constitutional amendments proposed by Mr Putin that included defining marriage as a heterosexual union and language pledging homage to “ancestors who bequeathed to us their ideals and a belief in God”.

In a speech to politicians debating the package of amendments, Mr Putin opposed doing away with the presidential term limit but backed stopping the count and restarting it in 2024, if the Russian Constitution is revised.

Mr Putin’s second consecutive six-year term ends in 2024.

A nationwide vote on the amendments is scheduled for next month.

Mr Putin has been in power for more than 20 years, and he is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. After serving two presidential terms in 2000-2008, he shifted to the Russian prime minister’s office while protege Dmitry Medvedev served as a placeholder president.

After the length of a presidential term was extended to six years under Mr Medvedev, Mr Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012 and won another term in 2018.