Putin’s party aims to reset term limits
Move would allow Russia’s president to keep power until 2036
MOSCOW — Russia’s parliament offered a path Tuesday for President Vladimir Putin to stay in power for an additional 12 years after his term expires in 2024, proposing an amendment that would reset presidential terms.
The plan, floated and supported by Putin’s United Russia party, is part of a sweeping rewrite of Russia’s constitution that many saw as a way for Putin to retain control of Russia well into the next decade.
The term-limit proposal was met with applause when it was introduced by State Duma Deputy Valentina Tereshkova, beloved nationally as the first woman in space.
The plan would reset the current term limits to zero, meaning Putin could run twice more for the presidency.
“I propose that we either lift the restriction on the number of presidential terms or indicate in an article of this bill that the incumbent president, just like any other citizen, has the right to run for president after the updated constitution takes effect,” Tereshkova said.
Parliament then adjourned for 90 minutes to phone Putin and ask for his thoughts. That prompted him to make a rare in-person appearance.
He said he was against eliminating presidential term limits altogether; however, if Russia’s Constitutional Court says that resetting term limits is legal, that amendment can be approved April 22 as part of the nationwide package of constitutional reforms. Both are considered formalities.
Putin, 67, has been in power for 20 years.
“I am sure time will come when supreme presidential power in Russia will not be, so to speak, personalized so much and will not be centered on one particular person,” Putin added.
With the proposed constitutional amendments in January, analysts speculated that it could be an avenue for Putin to retain influence past his current presidential term. One of his suggestions was “enshrining” the State Council, which advises the president, in the constitution and giving it vague and broad power, including say in foreign policy. That led some to believe that Putin’s post-2024 plan was to head that body.
But in a recent visit to the factory city of Ivanovo, roughly 150 miles from Moscow, Putin rejected that notion.
“There are suggestions to give the State Council some special powers and [for me to] become the head of that State Council. What will it mean? It will amount to the situation of diarchy in our country. Such a situation is absolutely fatal for Russia,” Putin said in Ivanovo on Friday.