Parliament GREENLIGHTS Putin’s proposed amendments to Russia’s Constitution

Russian MPs have voted in favor of a bill to amend the country’s Constitution. The changes include broadening the powers of parliament as well as limiting the number of lifetime presidential terms for one person.

The bill was supported by 382 deputies during the second and main reading on Tuesday. 44 MPs abstained from the vote, mostly members of the opposition Communist party. 

Russians will head to the polls to vote on the proposed constitutional changes on April 22. Amendments to the country’s’ principal law, among other things, include redistributing some powers away from the president to the Duma, restricting the president to two overall terms, banning officials from having foreign citizenship and setting the minimum wage above the basic cost of living. 

During his speech in the parliament’s lower house (Duma), Putin pointed out that this was “long overdue.”

The changes are aimed at strengthening the country’s sovereignty and traditions, while creating the conditions for “for steady, positive, evolutionary development of Russia in the long-term historical perspective.”

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