Dear CCI Readers,
Natylie Baldwin is keeping up with the latest on Russia’s constitutional changes announced on January 15, 2020, as well as shifts in personalities to carry forward the new policies. I essentially agree with her analyses so far and am glad to pass this latest report on to you.
I’m busy putting together CCI’s 2020 Travel Schedule. More to follow shortly.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
PUTIN SUBMITS DRAFT LAW AMENDING CONSTITUTION TO PARLIAMENT; PM MISHUSTIN HAS NEW CABINET & NEW SPENDING ORDER
January 27, 2020
By Natylie Baldwin
On January 20th, Putin submitted the draft law to the Duma amending the Russian constitution. There is a summary of the draft law in English on the Kremlin’s website, which is what I’ll be using to discuss the draft law, along with some supplemental sources. I’m also including additional commentary I’ve found from trusted sources who have access to the more complete and detailed Russian version.
The first few paragraphs reiterate the restrictions for individuals running for president of Russia and other major federal offices such as prime minister, cabinet members, members of parliament, regional governors, judges, etc. These include restrictions on dual citizenship and residency and, for the president, continuous residency in Russia for at least 25 years.
As has been pointed out by others, these requirements effectively prohibit the children of the current political class from running for major office in Russia since most of them have studied and/or lived in the U.S. or Europe and have therefore had long-term residency in a foreign country.