February 12, 2020 | The Clarion
Opinion
Page 7
What's up with Russia?
By Aia Andonovska
Sports Editor
Three weeks ago, many Russians and
the world got a major shock as the Russian
government dissolved and the prime minister,
Dmitry Medvedev stepped down. Vladimir
Putin, the president of Russia, also proposed
a series of changes to the Russia constitution,
in what is being seen as an attempt to keep
his power after his presidential term expires
in 2024.
Putin announced these constitutional changes
at his annual state of the nation address in
Moscow. In particular, he proposed amendments
that would transfer more power to the Russian
parliament, also called the Duma. He stated this
would be nationally voted upon. Other measures
include limiting the supremacy of international
law, amending the rules that limit a president to
two consecutive terms, and strengthening laws
that prohibit presidential candidates who have
held foreign citizenship or foreign residency
permits.
Another key change would take the power
of selecting a cabinet from the presidency and
instead leave this up to the parliament. Currently,
the prime minister and ministers are appointed
by Putin himself. Under Putin’s proposal,
parliament would select the prime minister
who would then nominate his own ministers for
approval by members of parliament.
It was only a few hours after Putin’s speech
that Medvedev and the entire cabinet declared
they would be stepping down, per Putin’s
request. Mr Medvedev made his announcement
on state television with President Putin sitting
next to him. “These changes, when they are
adopted... will introduce substantial changes
not only to an entire range of articles of the
constitution, but also to the entire balance of
power, the power of the executive, the power
of the legislature, the power of judiciary,” Mr
Medvedev said of Mr Putin’s proposals. “In this
context... the government in its current form
has resigned.” Medvedev will now become the
deputy chairman of Russia’s national security
council. The president later nominated tax
service chief Mikhail Mishustin to replace
Medvedev as prime minister.
These changes were immediately scrutinized
by observers as efforts done by Putin to
keep himself in power, as he prepares for his
presidential transition in 2024. At 67 years old,
Putin has ruled over Russia for two decades. The
question of how he will handle the end of his
presidency when it arrives in four years time has
increasingly been on the minds of people. Since
the declaration of the government dissolving
three weeks ago, there has been no update on
the conditions of Russia’s government, except
that they will vote on Putin’s proposals come
September 2020.
Putin addresses the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Jan. 15 2020.