Vladimir Putin becomes Russia's president for life
By Dov S. Zakheim, opinion contributor — 07/05/20 02:00 PM EDT
Thanks to an overwhelming vote of confidence from about three-fourths of the Russian electorate, Vladimir Putin now can remain president of Russia until 2036. He will be 84 years old when he completes the second of the two additional six-year terms that Russian voters awarded him in a referendum that ended on June 30. The referendum’s final results are not yet all in, but its outcome is not in doubt.
The referendum that guaranteed Putin’s tenure — assuming he remains the picture of health that he constantly demonstrates before those who are adoring supporters — actually addressed 205 amendments to the Russian constitution apart from the question of his extended tenure. Among these were popular ones such marriage as a heterosexual union, indexation guarantees for pensions and a variety of other social benefits. The tenure proposal was buried among the plethora of amendments, rendering it almost impossible for Putin’s extension to be rejected.
By 2036, Putin will have outlasted at least three American presidents, and a minimum of four if Donald Trump is not re-elected this year. His time in office — if one includes his four years as prime minister, when he was the real power behind then-president Dmitry Medvedev — will total nearly 37 years. That extended tenure would render him the longest-serving Russian (or Soviet) leader since Peter the Great, whose portrait graces Putin’s Kremlin office.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/505807-vladimir-putin-becomes-russias-president-for-life
