The current Russian constitution says Vladimir Putin must leave office in 2024. He has no intention of doing so
VLADIMIR PUTIN likes to surprise. Even more, he likes to confuse. As a former KGB officer, he is comfortable operating in fog and obfuscation, particularly when twisting the law—or even hatching a political plot. This is essentially what Mr Putin has been doing for the two months since he announced constitutional changes designed to keep himself in power after 2024. The current constitution says he must leave office then. As he indicated on March 10th, he has no intention of doing so.
Mr Putin has pondered and probably rejected various methods of retaining power: merging Russia with Belarus and so presiding over a new country; presiding over an empowered supreme state council; or becoming prime minister in a new parliamentary system. When confronted with a similar difficulty in 2008, he simply swapped jobs with Dmitry Medvedev, then prime minister.
Yet, for such a momentous event, Mr Putin’s gambit performed before the Duma, lacked panache and drama. The show was contrived and stale. In a stylistic throw-back to deadly-dull Communist Party congresses, Valentina Tereshkova, an MP and former Soviet cosmonaut, said there was no point in trying to erect complicated political constructions. It would be much better to ask Vladimir Vladimirovich to stay as president for the good of the country.
Although it would be quite wrong simply to remove term limits, he said casuistically, “lifting restrictions against...any citizen, including the current president, from taking part in an election in the future” was quite a different matter. Naturally, the changes to the constitution would have to be approved by the Constitutional Court, which he controls, as well as by the Russian people.
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