Vladimir Putin has proposed changes to Russia’s constitution that would limit the power of a potential successor if he steps down in 2024, indicating he may occupy a beefed-up role as Russia’s prime minister or in the government’s state council.
In a televised speech before senior officials, Putin suggested amending Russia’s constitution to limit a future president to two terms in office he has served four tightening residency requirements for presidential candidates, and letting parliament choose candidates for prime minister and the cabinet, in effect weakening the presidency.
Shortly after the speech, the prime minister, Dmitri Medvedev, said that Russia’s government would resign in full, allowing Putin to appoint new ministers as he embarks on a sweeping reshuffle of Russia’s leadership.
Medvedev, who also announced his intention to step down, was appointed to a new position as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, which is headed by Putin.
His move would allow Putin to appoint a new prime minister, potentially signalling whom he favours as a potential successor as president. It is not clear when the new prime minister will be named, and Putin has asked the current government to stay on until new ministers have been chosen.
Putin presented his amendments to the constitution as a significant change to Russia’s governing document, and called for the first nationwide referendum since 1993 to confirm them.
An elections official said within an hour of Putin’s speech that a referendum could be prepared as soon as the proposals to amend the constitution were formalised.
Margarita Simonyan, the head of the RT television station, wrote that effectively, power in Russia is moving to the legislative branch. Less credulous observers saw an attempt by Putin to lay the groundwork for a transition of power in 2024, when he should, under the constitution, step down from the presidency after serving two terms back-to-back as Russia’s head of state.
The main result of Putin’s speech: what idiots (and/or crooks) are all those who said that Putin would leave in 2024, wrote Alexei Navalny, a vocal leader of Russia’s opposition.
Putin, 67, has in effect ruled Russia since 2000, making him the longest-serving leader since Stalin, and the question of what he plans to do in 2024 remains the most important political question in the country.
The question of whom Putin will name as his successor has also been guessed at widely.
Alexey Makarkin of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow-based thinktank, said Putin’s constitutional amendments were an attempt to plan for his transition in 2024 and to reduce the focus on whom he would select as a successor by making that role less important.
The president won’t be as dominating a figure [as Putin]. said Makarkin. So the naming of his successor won’t be such a crucial decision.