Putin backs term limit freeze allowing him to stay in office

MOSCOW » Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed his tightly guarded political plans Tuesday and supported a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek reelection in 2024 by suspending a law that limits presidents to two consecutive terms.

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

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

The Russian leader and the lower house of parliament quickly endorsed the proposal put forward by former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, 83. Kremlin critics denounced the move as cynical manipulation and called for protests.

Lawmakers also passed a set of constitutional amendments proposed by Putin that include 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 lawmakers debating the package of amendments, 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. Putin’s second consecutive six-year term ends in 2024.

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

Putin has been in power for more than 20 years, and he is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef 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 Medvedev, Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012 and won another term in 2018.

Observers had speculated that to retain the presidency, Putin could use constitutional amendments he unveiled in January to scrap term limits; move into the prime minister’s seat with strengthened powers; or continue calling the shots as the head of the State Council.

However, Putin had dismissed those suggestions, and it wasn’t clear until Tuesday what option he might use to keep power. The Russian leader finally revealed his cards after Tereshkova, a legendary figure glorified for her pioneering 1963 space flight, offered her ideas.

“I propose to either lift the presidential term limit or add a clause that after the revised constitution enters force, the incumbent president, just like any other citizen, has the right to seek the presidency,” she said to raucous applause in the State Duma.

Putin