Lawmakers clear way for Putin to run again

The Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, introduced draft legislation on Tuesday to implement the amendment to the Constitution giving Russian President Vladimir Putin the right to seek reelection.

The bill was prepared in response to the amendments to the Constitution adopted following a nationwide vote on June 25, with 77.9 percent of Russians voting for the changes.

“The provision of the Russian Constitution, limiting the number of terms the same individual may serve as the president of Russia, is applied to an individual who has served and/or is serving as the president without taking into account the number of terms he served,” the draft legislation said, according to the website of the State Duma.

But this requirement does not apply to someone who held the presidency at the time when the relevant amendments to the Constitution came into force, the document added.

The draft also introduces new demands for presidential nominees, including that a candidate must be a Russian citizen not younger than 35 years old who has lived permanently in the country for at least 25 years, state news agency Tass reported.

Meanwhile, the State Duma has passed a bill on expanding immunity from prosecution for former presidents in its first reading, ensuring its compliance with the amended Constitution.

According to Tass, immunity of an ex-president can now be taken away if a criminal case is opened to investigate if they committed a serious indictable offense when in office.

The procedure is initiated by the chair of the Russian Investigative Committee by submitting the proposal to the State Duma which agrees to strip the person of immunity.

The resolution is later referred to the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, which considers the issue within three months.

The draft also complicates the procedure for stripping a former president of immunity, as former presidents can only be deprived of immunity if charged with high treason or some other “grave offense” advanced by the State Duma and confirmed by the conclusion of the Supreme Court and the Russian Constitutional Court.

Pavel Krasheninnikov, one of the authors of the bill and the head of the Duma’s state-building and legislation committee, specified the new provisions of the bill under consideration only apply to former presidents of the Russian Federation, but do not extend to former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, Tass reported.