In November 2008, media all over the world was filled with speculation that proposed constitutional amendments in Russia were just a prelude to Putin's return to the presidency.
For example, on November 14, The Guardian (UK) wrote:
Russian vote paves way for early Putin comeback
Russia's parliament voted today to extend the presidential term from four to six years, in a move that entrenches the Kremlin's grip on power and paves the way for an early comeback by Vladimir Putin. The country's Duma, or lower house, voted overwhelmingly to back the constitutional amendment, which had its first reading after Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, abruptly suggested it last week. The parliament also voted to extend the Duma's term from four to five years. The amendment - likely to be ratified next Tuesday - does not apply to Medvedev, whose current four-year presidential stint isn't due to finish until 2012. But it comes amid feverish speculation that Putin, Russia's powerful prime minister, is planning an early return to the Kremlin... "The tsar was constrained by the aristocracy. The party bureaucracy controlled the general secretary. Today the president controls parliament, the senate, regions, the bureaucracy and the security services, as well as oil and gas," Vladimir Ryzhkov, a Kremlin opponent and former Duma deputy, noted... A week later Xinhua reported: Why Russia's lower house approved a longer presidential term Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed a bill extending the presidential term from four years to six on Friday, 16 days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put forth the initiative in his first state-of-the-nation address. The approval was a clear signal that the country's mainstream political forces were eager to see an extension of the presidential term, analysts said... Arkady Dvorkovich, a presidential aide, said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel that the extension is directly connected with current needs of the Russian economy. "The prolonging of the presidential term is connected with the needs of the Russian economy and not with personal needs or opinions. The longer presidential term will better serve Russia in the coming decades," Dvorkovich said. However, Medvedev's proposals were seen by some analysts as an attempt to pave the way for Putin to return to the Kremlin... And a CBC commentator speculated: How soon will Putin be back in the big saddle? Edward Lucas, a journalist at The Economist and an expert on Russia, says that "Medvedev will say he wants more time with his family. Putin will come back in a matter of months, saying, 'I've decided things are so difficult I really need to take the helm again.'" "Then he can start sacking ministers, blaming people, acting like a czar. Of course in Russian history we see that even when czars ran things really badly, people said, 'oh, the czar's all right, it's just his advisers, the courtiers.' "That's a historical lesson that's not been lost on the current regime." The other historical lesson is that constitutions in Russia are just pieces of paper. In a little over 70 years the leaders of the former Soviet Union managed to write four of them. Imperial Russia did without a written one until 1906, just 11 years before the czarist structure collapsed in war and revolution. The 1906 version did contain a resounding clause: "The supreme autocratic power is vested in the czar of all the Russias. It is God's command that his authority should be obeyed not only through fear but for conscience' sake." Perhaps the new czar of all the Russias is preparing to offer that as his next constitutional amendment. |