JRL NEWSWATCH: “New Russian order: After presidency, yet another role for Putin?” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Seated at Desk

“Russia faces a looming question: What follows Putin’s current, likely final presidential term? An answer is beginning to take shape – and may involve a new position for Putin and a reshaped political landscape”

“For many years, the main slogan of anti-Kremlin opposition activists – often shouted as they were being dragged into police vans at street protests – has been ‘Russia Without Putin!’ As Vladimir Putin’s fourth, and almost certainly final, six-year term as president heads into its second year, the prospect of a Russia without him is becoming real …. The issue is no longer dominated by loud declarations in the streets, but by quiet conversations in the halls of power.  … some are talking up schemes to keep …. Putin – and the relatively stable status quo he guarantees – in some position of having the final word …. … a serious debate is beginning to erupt in Russia’s political elite. Its outcome may change Russia’s constitutional system, for better or worse, and determine what kind of country will emerge from the long period that people now call ‘the Putin era.’ …”Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

Some of the concepts reported on by the writer include a constitutional amendment creating a new post for Putin; the unification of Russia and Belarus requiring new political structures; expansion of the powers of the “State Council” Kremlin advisory body; and the development of Russia as a “parliamentary republic” with Putin as “symbolic head of state.”

Click here for: “New Russian order: After presidency, yet another role for Putin? Russia faces a looming question: What follows Putin’s current, likely final presidential term? An answer is beginning to take shape – and may involve a new position for Putin and a reshaped political landscape” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir, Correspondent

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