RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS, 2020

• Mr. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, was supposed to have his term ended in the year 2024.
• The Duma (Russian Parliament) approved an amendment that gave a clean slate to the previous presidential terms of Vladimir Putin.
• This will allow him to stay in power till 2036 if he wins the 2024 elections.
• According to the Russian spokesperson, they could make amendments as long as the basic principle of the constitution is not changed.
• The Duma also banned gay marriage.
• The Amendment provided that any important official such as the president, prime minister, etc cannot hold foreign citizenship or a residence permit in other nations.
• In this amendment Russian laws were given more importance than international laws.
• These amendments were to be put to a vote on 22^nd April 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been shifted to 1^st July 2020.

You can read more about how the term Socialist- Is This Paramount to Preamble of the Indian Constitution? which is also critical to the Russian constitutional amendments.