Vladimir Putin Responds to Criticism of Constitutional Amendments

President Vladimir Putin didn’t agree with the Russian Communist Party’s position, which believes that amendments to the Constitution will lead to “oligarchic rule and dictatorship”. The head of state recalled that if they are adopted, he will lose some powers. “If today <...> the president himself approves the chairman of the government with the State Duma’s consent, and then, without any consent of the country’s parliament, he actually appoints the ministers, the situation changes dramatically - now the final decision on the chairman of the government is made by the parliament itself, just like on ministers. And the president in the proposed version does not have the right to renounce them,” Putin explained during “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on Russia 1TV channel. The criticism from the Communist Party was described by the Russian leader as strange. He emphasized that the Communists had always advocated the dictatorship of the proletariat, and in reality there was one party dictatorship in the Soviet Union. The head of state also noted that now the Basic Law will include provisions that are “long ripe” in society. “So that they continue to work, so that they are not forgotten and later removed from practical life as I just eplained: there is a law on the need to index pensions, but then another law on the budget is adopted, which makes exceptions - this year this will not be done or will be done in another mode. That’s all,” he concluded. If certain things are set in the Constitution, they will inevitably have to be performed, the president explained. Amendment vote The all-Russian vote on constitutional amendments is scheduled for July 1. Initially, it was supposed to be held on April 22, but was postponed due to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic. Moscow and the Nizhny Novgorod region residents, who have a verified account on the public services portal, will be able to vote online from June 25 to 30. To do this, users need to log in to the platform using any of the accounts (mos.ru or gosuslugi.ru) and open the e-newsletter page. Access to it will appear after entering the code, which will be sent to SMS to the number indicated in your personal account. The rest will need to come to the ballot station on July 1. Changes to the basic law are devoted to new requirements put forward to the president, members of the government and government officials at various levels. They also secure social guarantees of the state to citizens and change the parliament’s capacities.