Putin signed legislation to extend his rule Israel today

Russian president could now run for two more terms • Russian Foreign Minister comments on tensions in Ukraine: "Russia does not threaten any country"

• Russian President Vladimir Putin // Photo: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin today (Monday) signed a law that allows him to once again run for prime minister and thus open the door to tenure in two consecutive terms.  

It should be noted that Putin initiated the change in the Russian constitution in January last year, and among the amendments received can be removed the removal "in sequence" from the section regulating the maximum number of presidencies, and resetting the number of previous presidencies before the amendment takes effect.

That is, "resetting" the number of presidential terms held by the current president (Vladimir Putin) or former president (Dmitry Medvedev) to allow one of them to serve his first term if elected to the presidency in 2024 and thus serve consecutively until 2036, if re-elected in the 2030 election (each term Lasts 6 years).

This law was approved a few days ago in the upper house of the federation and passed for the signature of the president in order for it to take effect.

The change in the term restriction clause has been widely criticized by the Russian opposition, which claims that it is a personal law with dictatorial characteristics, after Putin promised to respect the term restriction defined in the previous constitution.

"Russia does not threaten anyone" 

"The movement of the Russian army across the country should not cause concern to other countries, as the Russian Federation does not pose a threat to other countries."

This was stated today at a press conference by a spokesman for President Putin Dmitry Peskov. 

His remarks came amid the deployment of Russian military forces not far from the border with Ukraine in recent days and the resulting concerns in Kiev and Western countries, especially after the occupation and annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014. 

"No one is wandering or wandering. The Russian army is moving in the country's territory in the directions it deems necessary, in terms of realizing the necessary security for our country," the Kremlin spokesman said, referring to the movement of forces to the Rostov region in southwestern Russia.

Peskov said that "this should not arouse even the slightest concern," adding that "Russia does not pose a threat to any country in the world, including not to Ukraine."

At the same time, he noted that "Russia always takes its security issue very seriously."