Putin to Make Surprise Duma Visit Amid Calls for Him to Stay On
Russian Parliament to Consult Putin on Removing His Term Limit
(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin is expected to make a surprise address to Russia’s lower house of parliament Tuesday after ruling-party lawmakers said they wanted to abolish the constitutional term limit that prevents him continuing to rule as president beyond 2024.
Putin will appear before the State Duma after 3 p.m., Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, the Interfax news service reported. The president’s previously unscheduled appearance in the chamber raised speculation that he may be on the verge of abandoning his long-standing opposition to eliminate the restrictions that require him to step down at the end of his current term.
“Putin needs to be there -- in case something goes wrong” amid global political and economic turbulence, Valentina Tereshkova, a respected lawmaker who was also the first woman in space, told the State Duma in a speech shown on state TV during debates on a constitutional overhaul put forward by the Kremlin. “If the situation requires it and, most importantly, if the people want it, to put in law the possibility for the current president to be re-elected to this position is already in accordance with the updated constitution.”
The proposal came after an earlier call from another United Russia lawmaker to hold pre-term parliamentary elections once the constitutional changes are passed. The Kremlin’s amendments did not include removing term limits or calling early elections, both of which would require changes to the basic law.
Putin has previously rejected calls to change the presidential term limit, including as recently as last week, and has not indicated any support for early parliamentary elections. While the fact that both proposals came from prominent members of the ruling party suggests they may have Kremlin support, it may also be that the president is using them as trial balloons that are designed to be rejected when he speaks to lawmakers.
The new constitution “gives us more powers so it would be fair to hold new elections,” Alexander Karelin of United Russia said as the Duma began debates on the amendments ahead of one of two final votes in the lower chamber. The removal of term limits and early-vote proposal would require constitutional amendments.
The Kremlin has set a national ballot to approve the constitutional changes for April 22. Putin has said the plan is aimed at modernizing the basic law and that he plans to observe current term limits, which prevent him from running again. But the overhauls, abruptly announced in January, are widely seen as an effort to create options for Putin to retain control even after he steps down as president. The Kremlin has also added amendments on issues like family and religion aimed at mobilizing public support for a plan that’s so far produced limited enthusiasm.
The global economic turmoil set off by the spread of coronavirus has added to the Kremlin’s challenges, threatening efforts to boost stagnant living standards with a major spending program. A collapse in oil prices after Putin on Friday refused to join deeper crude output cuts with OPEC, sparking a move by Saudi Arabia to ramp up oil supplies, has sharply worsened the outlook for Russia’s economy.
Support for United Russia is close to a record low after five years of economic stagnation. Maintaining the ruling party’s commanding majority is likely to get more difficult if the slowdown persists.
--With assistance from Henry Meyer.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andrey Biryukov in Moscow at abiryukov5@bloomberg.net;Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin
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