Russia’s Top Court Approves Plan Allowing Putin to Stay in Power
Russia’s highest court endorsed President Vladimir Putin’s proposed constitution changes, removing one of the final hurdles to him potentially remaining in power until 2036.
Mr. Putin last week backed an amendment to the constitution that would allow him to run again after his presidential term, his fourth since 2000, ends in four years.
The changes will help consolidate Mr. Putin’s control over political and social life in Russia and could make him the longest-ruling leader in Russia’s modern history, surpassing Joseph Stalin.
On Monday, after less than two days of deliberations over the weekend, Russia’s constitutional court said that the amendments are in line with Russian law. Last week, the parliament approved the changes with no dissents. The amendments are scheduled to go to a national referendum on April 22.
The approval of the changes are the latest step in a carefully choreographed process that began in January when Mr. Putin proposed amending the constitution and shuffled the government, removing longtime ally Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister and putting the former head of the tax service, Mikhail Mishustin, in charge.
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 years amid U.S. sanctions over Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and low oil and gas prices, which have bruised the economy and hammered living standards for many Russians.
The coronavirus outbreak and the recent fall in oil prices have presented further challenges for the Kremlin leader. Russian officials said Monday that the April vote is still set to go ahead, despite the outbreak. The number of people who have tested positive for the virus in Moscow, the nation’s capital, has reached 53, Moscow city officials said Monday.
Mr. Putin’s plans to overhaul the constitution has met little public resistance, although thousands of people attended a rally in the Russian capital last month to protest the move. Last week, dozens of people organized individual protest pickets in Moscow. And over the weekend, a group of more than 400 lawyers, journalists and scientists appealed to the constitutional court in an open letter to deny Mr. Putin’s plans.
“We believe that the threat of a deep constitutional crisis and an unlawful anti-constitutional coup in a pseudo-legal form is looming over our country,” said the letter, which was published by the website of radio station Echo of Moscow.
In what observers say is a sign of Mr. Putin’s increasingly traditionalist, nationalistic policies, the changes include provisions effectively banning same-sex marriage and enshrining in the constitution the mention of Russians’ “faith in God.”
Photo: President Vladimir Putin stands to become the longest-ruling leader in Russia’s modern history, surpassing Joseph Stalin.
PHOTO: PAVEL GOLOVKIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
