Constitutional changes allowing Vladimir Putin to run for president again in 2024 sailed through Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday, opening the way for him to potentially stay in power until 2036.
Putin, 67, has dominated the Russian political landscape for two decades as either president or prime minister and made a dramatic appearance in the chamber a day earlier to argue that term limits were less important in times of crisis.
Putin, a former KGB officer, is currently required by the constitution to step down in 2024 when his second sequential and fourth presidential term ends. But the amendment which he backed would formally reset his presidential term tally to zero.
The 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday voted in favor of the change, along with other amendments to the constitution, by 383 votes, in the third and final reading. Nobody voted against, but 43 lawmakers abstained. Twenty-four lawmakers were absent.
If, as Putin critics expect, the constitutional court now gives its blessing to the amendment and it is backed in a nationwide vote in April, Putin would have the option to run again for president in 2024.