Russia mulls constitution changes over Putin’s term

Bloomberg

The speaker of Russia’s parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution as speculation grows that the Kremlin is considering ways to allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power beyond the end of his current term, when current law requires him to step down.
“This is about the transfer of power,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and former Kremlin aide.
“Putin encourages this game, dropping ambiguous hints.”
The comments from Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma and a top member of the ruling party, at a scripted Kremlin meeting with Putin were vague and didn’t mention succession. But analysts said they showed the authorities already are preparing the ground for changes before the end of Putin’s current term in 2024.
“There are questions in society, esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich,” Volodin said, addressing Putin in the respectful form, according to a Kremlin transcript. “This is the time when we could answer these questions, without in any way threatening the fundamental provisions” of the constitution, he added. “The law, even one like the Basic Law, isn’t dogma.”

Putin Cautious
The current constitution was drafted 25 years ago, Volodin noted. “That was a very difficult time. A time when the state stood on the edge of collapse, when social obligations weren’t fulfilled, when our citizens lost faith in the authorities.” He proposed involving Constitutional Court judges and other legal experts in an effort to look at
“how the Constitution and the norms of development of the Constitution suit the tenets that were passed.”
The official transcript doesn’t include any mention of Putin’s response to Volodin’s proposal. The Kremlin’s tight control over the political system would make it easy to approve constitutional changes if Putin backed them.
“There’s no position on this issue yet” at the Kremlin, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about Volodin’s comments, adding that no work is underway on possible amendments at the moment. When he was reelected to his current six-year term in March, Putin said, “At present I don’t plan any constitutional reforms.”
But speculation over the possibility of amendments continues. Earlier this month, Putin said the constitution is “not some fossilised legal construct but a living, developing organism.” At his annual press conference, Putin said any changes to the Basic Law are “a matter for broad civic discussion,” though he wasn’t specifically asked about amendments to allow him to remain in power.
Political analysts and government insiders have been discussing the possibility of constitutional changes for months as the focus on the end of Putin’s term grows. Putin, now 66 years old and apparently healthy, has suggested he doesn’t plan to stay beyond that time, but few see a suitable replacement for the man who has ruled Russia virtually unchallenged for the last 18 years.