You're reading: Amendments to Russia’s Constitution banning president from serving more than two terms postponed indefinitely

Moscow - The issue of amendments to the Russian Constitution banning the president from running for a third term after an interval is closed for now, Izvestiya reported on Tuesday, June 26.

“The Kremlin, United Russia, and even the opposition have no plans to propose such initiatives in the nearest future,” Izvestiya has reported.

The paper recalled that Vladimir Bortko (Communist Party faction of the State Duma) said in the State Duma on April 11 that the Item 3 of Article 81 of the Russian Constitution prohibits one and the same person from being president “for more than two consecutive terms.”

He proposed to “take away the word ‘consecutive’ to expand democracy.” The proposal was approved by then-prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Nevertheless, the amendment has still not been made official, Izvestiya reported.

Putin’s press officer Dmitry Peskov told Izvestiya the issue is currently not on the list of priorities.

“Vladimir Putin said this issue can be discussed. However, it is not on the agenda now. I don’t know if it is on the agenda of the parliament,” he said.

At the same time, Dmitry Vyatkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on constitutional legislation, told the paper the committee is not considering changes to the Constitution either.