Kremlin ponders plan for Putin to be supreme leader
President Vladimir Putin could take on the title of ‘‘supreme leader of Russia’’ under plans being discussed by a government commission, the Kremlin has said.
Putin, 67, personally chose 75 people this month to put forward amendments to the country’s constitution, which dates from 1993.
The commission includes Vladimir Mashkov, an actor who played a Russian intelligence agent
in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Yelena Isinbayeva, a former Olympic pole vaulter. Only 11 members of the commission have a legal background.
Pavel Krasheninnikov, the commission’s co-chairman, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the government’s official newspaper, that the suggestion to change Putin’s job description to ‘‘supreme leader’’ was one of about 700 possible constitutional amendments.
‘‘Right now all this is at the discussion stage,’’ a Kremlin spokesman said. ‘‘President Putin has no view on this.’’
Putin, who has ruled Russia under one title or another since 2000, is due to step down as president in 2024, when his term of office expires. Most analysts believe the ex-KGB officer will seek to prolong his rule.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a prominent nationalist politician, has often suggested that the president be known as ‘‘supreme leader’’ – ‘‘verkhovny pravitel’’ in Russian – as part of a proposed drive to cut the use of words borrowed from foreign languages. The Russian word for ‘‘president’’ is ‘‘prezident’’.
The only other official supreme leader in Russian history was Admiral Kolchak, who led the antiBolshevik White Army government during the Russian Civil War. He was executed by a Red Army firing squad in 1920.
The ‘‘supreme leader’’ proposal was mocked by opposition figures. Supporters of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin critic, joked that Russia was transforming into the evil empire served by Darth Vader. ‘‘All that’s left now is to build the Death Star,’’ they wrote on Twitter.
Other proposals by the commission include a formal recognition of Russia as a ‘‘victorious power’’ in World War II and legally establishing Orthodox Christianity as the main faith.
A number of changes to the constitution were introduced by Putin on January 15. These included handing more power to the state council, an advisory body to the Kremlin, and giving Russia’s constitution legal precedence over international treaties. The amendments, which were described by the opposition as a ‘‘constitutional coup,’’ were approved by parliament last week.
One in four Russians (27 per cent) would like Putin to remain as president after 2024, according to an opinion poll by the independent Levada Centre think tank. A similar proportion (28 per cent) would like him to take up another leading political role, such as prime minister, as he did from 2008-12 last time he reached the constitutional limit of two consecutive presidential terms.
One in three (32 per cent) would like him to retire from politics. Other suggestions included taking up a post at a state company or an international organisation such as the United Nations.
‘‘All that’s left now is to build the Death Star.’’
Supporters of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny