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Putin says amendment banning transfer of Russian territories is vital

According to Russian President, the previous Constitution did not mention the issue related to the inviolability of Russia’s borders and the ban on the alienation of territories

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not author the amendment to the Constitution that bans giving away the country’s territories.

"I did not personally invent this, this was [done] during the work on the amendments," Putin said in an interview with Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel. "The citizens and members of the working group [on preparing constitutional amendments] suggested this," he noted.

According to Putin, the previous Constitution did not mention the issue related to the inviolability of Russia’s borders and the ban on the alienation of territories. "There was nothing like this, and it should be," the president stated.

Putin stressed the importance of including the provisions to the Constitution "related to sovereignty, like many countries did not hesitate to do a long time ago," noting that "the decisions of international courts should not contradict the Russian Constitution." "Some things were ripe but were not taken into account in the key law, and now they can be and this means they should find their place there. In my view, this is very important," the Russian leader said.

The president explained that all these provisions "should be written down [in the Constitution] so that they continue working and are not forgotten and cleaned out of political life." "If this is written down in the Constitution, then all state bodies and the government must inevitably fulfill this," he said.

A package of amendments to Russia’s Constitution, approved in a nationwide popular vote, officially took effect on July 4. A total of 206 amendments to the fundamental law have been introduced. They stipulate social guarantees, expand the powers of parliament, impose certain restrictions senior officials are obliged to meet, establish the Russian Constitution’s supremacy over international legislation, describe the role and status of the State Council and prohibit the same person from being elected president more than twice, with a reservation, though, that the current head of state will be able to be elected again after the amendments take effect.

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