PUTIN SIGNS LAW ALLOWING HIM TO SERVE 2 MORE PRESIDENTIAL TERMS

Tue 06 April 2021:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed into law a bill, allowing him to hold the presidential office for two more terms.

The bill also sets additional requirements for presidential nominees – only a Russian citizen above 35 who has permanently resided in Russia for at least 25 years, and never had citizenship or a residence permit of another state can be nominated for the presidential office.

This provision does not apply to Russians who “previously had the citizenship of a state that was adopted or part of which was adopted in the Russian Federation under the federal constitutional law.”

Last year, Russia held a vote on constitutional amendments. Currently, Russian lawmakers are making the existing legislation in line with the new version of the constitution.

Previously, Putin’s efforts to stay in power — including a job swap with his then prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2008, returning to the presidency in 2012 — have attracted mass protests and criticism from overseas.

Earlier this year, thousands of people protested across Russia over the jailing of opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who was detained in January on return to the country five months after he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

Anti-corruption campaigner Navalny has been a constant thorn in Putin’s side for years now, with a recent video purporting to expose an extravagant secret palace on Russia’s Black Sea coast he said was built for the President attracting millions of views on YouTube.

Putin often defends the conservative political regime he’s ushered in by arguing that Russia has seen enough turbulence in the past, and his strong leadership has brought stability. The constitutional amendments, including giving him the chance to remain president, were necessary to ensure that stability continues, he’s argued, by avoiding the distraction of a hunt for a successor from among Russia’s political elite.

“I know that in two years, instead of working normally at all levels of the state, all eyes will be on the search for potential successors,” Putin said in an interview with state-run television last year. “We must work and not look for successors.”

He’s said at the time that he might consider running for a fifth term, but insisted that he hadn’t yet made a final decision.