Just days after the idea of “resetting” Vladimir Putin’s term count was publicly floated in parliament, Russia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that such a move is lawful.
On Monday, the court approved the changes which are part of a wide-reaching reform package that could allow the 67-year-old strongman to stay in power until 2036. The reform would still need to be approved by voters in a nationwide referendum, which has been set for April 22.
Putin has ruled Russia since 2000, switching to the prime ministerial office in 2008 to circumvent term limits and returning to the presidency in 2012, after a reform that prolonged the length of a presidential term from four to six years. He won his most recent presidential term in 2018, which would allow him to legally stay in power by 2024.
Last month, Putin launched an idea of a sweeping constitutional reform, which would include giving more power to parliament, assert the priority of Russian law over international norms, outlawing same-sex marriage, and enshrining “belief in God” into the Constitution.
The changes also mean that presidential candidates can only run if they have lived in the country for the past 25 years. The rule would eliminate Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who has attended an academic program in Yale in 2010, as well as exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
