MOSCOW • Russian President Vladimir Putin has given final approval to legislation allowing him to hold office for two additional six-year terms, opening the possibility for him to stay in power until 2036.
The 68-year-old leader, who has been in power for more than two decades, signed off on the Bill on Monday.
Mr Putin proposed the change last year as part of constitutional reforms that Russians overwhelmingly backed in a vote in July.
Lawmakers approved the Bill last month. The legislation will reset presidential term limits, allowing Mr Putin to run in elections again after his current and second consecutive term expires in 2024.
Mr Putin was first elected president in 2000 and served two consecutive four-year terms. His ally Dmitry Medvedev took his place in 2008, which critics saw as a way around Russia's limit of two consecutive terms for presidents.
While in office, Mr Medvedev signed off on legislation extending terms to six years starting with the next president. Mr Putin then returned to the Kremlin in 2012 and won re-election in 2018.
The term reset was part of constitutional reforms that included populist economic measures and sweeteners for traditionalists such as an effective ban on gay marriage.
Russians voted yes or no to the entire bundle of amendments in a vote last summer that was held over the course of a week, in a move that authorities said was aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus but critics said left the process open to manipulation.
Independent election monitor Golos said Russians should have been able to vote for each change separately. It also said it received hundreds of complaints of violations, including people voting multiple times.
Russians ultimately voted 78 per cent in favour of the changes.
Kremlin opponents have said the constitutional reforms were a pretext to allow Mr Putin to become "president for life". Mr Putin would be 83 or 84 years old when he leaves office if he is elected and serves two additional terms to their end in 2036.
"They really think that if they managed to deceive human laws, then they will be able to deceive the laws of nature," said opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman.
The Bill also includes new requirements for presidential candidates. They must now be at least 35 years old, have permanently resided in Russia for at least 25 years and never had foreign citizenship.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
