2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia

President Vladimir Putin made that proposal during his annual address to the Federal Assembly on 15 January 2020.[2]

According to the articles 136 and 108, amendments to the provisions of Chapters 3–8, require the same approval as a federal constitutional law, that is, a two-thirds supermajority vote in the State Duma, the lower house and a three-fourths supermajority vote in the Federation Council, the upper house, and come into force as they have passed the Regional legislatures of no less than two thirds of the 85 federal subjects.

The President formally submitted the bill to the State Duma on 20 January.[3] On 11 March 2020, the State Duma, dominated by pro-government parties, swiftly approved the proposal in the third reading with no objection.[4] By 13 March 2020 legislative assemblies of all 85 Federal subjects approved amendments to the Constitution [5]. On 16 March the Constitutional Court of Russia gave their approval to the amendments.[6]

In total, 14 articles will be changed. In General, the following amendments are proposed:[7][8][9][10]

• Remove the "in a row" clause from the article regulating the maximum number of presidential terms, discounting previous presidential terms before the amendment enters into force.
• Nullify the number of presidential terms served by the current President (Vladimir Putin) or former President (Dmitry Medvedev) to allow either to serve his first term if elected to the presidency in 2024.
• The Russian Constitution should take precedence over international law;
• The State Duma (the lower house of Parliament) should have the right to approve the Prime Minister's candidacy (currently it only gives consent to his appointment), the State Duma will also be able to approve the candidates of Deputy Prime Ministers and Federal Ministers, the President will not be able to refuse their appointment, but in some cases will be able to remove them from office;
• Persons who hold "important positions for ensuring the country's security" (President, Ministers, judges, heads of regions) should not have foreign citizenship or residence permit in other countries, either at the time of their work in office or, in the case of the President, at any time before;
• A presidential candidate must live in Russia for at least 25 years (currently 10 years) and may not have ever in their life held foreign citizenship or residency (with no possibility of renouncing foreign citizenship to become eligible to be president);
• The Federation Council (the upper house of Parliament) will be able to propose that the President dismiss Federal judges; in some cases, the Federation Council, on the proposal of the President, will have the right to remove judges of the Constitutional and Supreme courts;
• Particular ministers who are the heads of law enforcement agencies must be appointed by the President in consultation with the Federation Council;
• The minimum wage cannot be lower than the subsistence minimum;
• Regular indexation of pensions;
• Consolidation of the status and role of the State Council (at present it is only an advisory body and is not prescribed in the Constitution);
• Granting the Constitutional Court the ability to check the constitutionality of laws adopted by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at the request of the President before they are signed by the President;
• Defining marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman.[10][11][12]

The amendments will be put to a national vote[lower-alpha 1] initially called for April 2020 but later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been rescheduled for 1 July (with early voting allowed from 25 June).

The New York Times wrote that the proposed prohibition of same-sex marriage was "an effort to raise turnout for a constitutional referendum that could keep him in power but has so far stirred little enthusiasm among Russians."[10]

The Guardian wrote that "[t]he move, announced by Putin in January, was initially seen as a way for him to hold on to power after 2024, when as things stand he will no longer be able to serve as president because of term limits."[11] The Guardian further noted that: "Putin’s direct support for the amendments makes it likely they will go through. He has taken an increasingly conservative turn in his fourth term as president".[11]

Will Partlett has written that the amendments "follow the recent ‘populist’ trend toward state-building grounded on constitutional centralism, anti-institutionalism, and protectionism."[13]

• Russia under Vladimir Putin