He has been governing Russia for 20 years, as president or prime minister, and he still has four more terms, but Vladimir Putin is already preparing his future and that of his country, which has barely known another leader since the fall of the Soviet Union.
This Wednesday has announced a series of constitutional reforms that will change the balances of power in Russia, undermining the authority of its successor, in a movement that can be interpreted as another political maneuver to continue leading the country. It would not be the first.
Putin, 67 and former director of the Russian secret services (the former KGB), was elected president in August 1999, following the resignation of Boris Yeltsin (who had held the post since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991) .
In 2004, he was re-elected. The Constitution prevented him from coming back after these two terms, so he handed over power to one of his most loyal political allies, Dmitry Medvedev. Just days later, in May 2008, he was elected prime minister by a Parliament also under his control.
In 2012, Medvedev proposed that he be succeeded in the presidency of new Putin, who served six years of office and was reelected again in 2018. He remains then until 2024, when the Constitution prevents him from again presenting himself for a third term. Will he still control Russia again as prime minister?
This Wednesday, in his annual speech before Parliament, he presented a package of measures to leave the election of the prime minister to the deputies (currently they only approve the president's decision).
If they were endorsed by the two parliamentary chambers, which control their allies, they would be subjected to a referendum, as Putin announced today.
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Medvedev submitted his resignation
After this announcement, Medvedev, who now becomes prime minister, has resigned along with his entire cabinet, to "give the president the means to take all the measures that are imposed."
The political analyst Alexey Kurtov considers, however, that it is a sign of "disagreement" about the changes promoted by Putin, according to German media Deutsche Welle.
Putin has thanked his outgoing prime minister and his ministers for their services, and has asked them to conclude the current affairs until the appointment of a new team.
Doubts among the experts
In addition to strengthening Parliament, Putin proposed reforming the powers of regional governors, prohibiting members of the Government and judges from having residence permits abroad, and forcing any candidate for president to have lived in Russia for the past 25 years.
“Russia must remain a strong presidential republic. That is why the president, of course, will retain the right to establish the missions and priorities of the government, ”he explained.
The head of state will thus maintain the right to dismiss any member of the government, and appoint the heads of all security structures.
According to expert Konstantin Kalashev, Putin wanted to "create confusion" about his plans, postponing "the real debate on the transfer of power" until after 2024.
For the head of the state television RT, Margarita Simonyan, it is a “revolution without bloodshed”, with which “Russia turns to the legislative power”. The president of the Court of Auditors, Alexéi Kudrin, however, only sees "a small step" in favor of Parliament.
Edited by Felipe Gálvez, with information from AP and AFP
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