RUSSIALINK: “Peskov declines comment on media reports regarding Medvedev’s version of constitutional amendments” – Interfax

MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has declined to comment on media reports that former prime minister Dmitry Medvedev proposed his own draft for constitutional reform, which envisaged a merger between the presidency and the executive authorities, to the president in December.

“I am unaware of the sources of these reports, so I cannot tell you anything,” Peskov told the press on Tuesday.

According to Kommersant, Medvedev promoted a variant of reform which differed from that which President Vladimir Putin proposed in his address to the Federal Assembly. The newspaper said that Medvedev suggested a U.S.-style merger between the presidency and the executive authorities, which would make the president de facto head of the executive branch.

[featured image is file photo from another occasion]