President Vladimir Putin has backed a constitutional amendment that could prolong his two-decade grip on power until 2036, the clearest indication yet that the Kremlin leader intends to remain in control of Russia’s future for years to come, possibly putting him among the ranks of leaders who have found ways to remain in power for life, the Wall Street Journal reported.
After months of speculation about Mr. Putin’s intentions, a proposal adopted on Tuesday by the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, would allow Mr. Putin to run again in 2024, when his second sequential presidential term ends and he is currently required by the constitution to stand down.
Tuesday’s move was the latest step in a carefully choreographed process that began in January and has involved a change of government and Russia’s biggest constitutional overhaul since the end of the Soviet Union.
If Mr. Putin stays in power beyond 2024, he could serve as president until the age of 83. He would be emulating leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who oversaw legislative changes that permit them to remain in power for decades. It would also make him one of the longest-ruling leaders in Russia’s history.
Mr. Putin, 67, has held power in Russia since 1999, as either president or prime minister, though his popularity has begun to flag in recent months amid U.S. sanctions over Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and low oil and gas prices, which have bruised the economy and living standards for Russians. The coronavirus outbreak and the recent fall in oil prices have presented further challenges for him.
In a speech to lawmakers punctuated by frequent applause, Mr. Putin said that he would back the changes if the country’s constitutional court didn’t object.
They would be part of a wider package of constitutional amendments to be put to a national plebiscite in April.
“Russia has had enough revolutions,” Mr. Putin said. “The president is the guarantor of the constitution, and to say more simply, the guarantor of the security of our state, its internal stability and internal evolutionary development.”
“I am fully aware of my responsibility to the people, and I see that the people, or at least the majority of our society, are waiting for my personal assessments and decisions on key matters of the development of the Russian state, both now and after 2024,” Mr. Putin said.
Tuesday’s amendment would allow Mr. Putin to serve another two back-to-back, six-year presidential terms until 2036.
With his conditional approval of the amendment, Mr. Putin is giving himself more options for after his term ends, said Konstantin Gaaze, a Moscow-based political analyst and former government adviser.
“Putin is convincing himself that he is irreplaceable,” Mr. Gaaze said. “So he re-established himself as a personal guarantor of the elite’s future.”
In his speech, Mr. Putin focused on the need for stability in Russia in the face of mounting global challenges.
“We see how difficult the situation is in world politics, in the field of security, in the global economy,” Mr. Putin said Tuesday. “The coronavirus also flew to us, and oil prices dance and jump, and with them the national currency and the exchange rate.”
