MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. State Duma delegates Pavel Krasheninnikov and Olga Savastianova, as well as senator Andrey Klishas have introduced to the State Duma a draft legislation to implement the amendment to the Constitution giving Russian incumbent President Vladimir Putin the right to run for the office of the head of state again. The corresponding document is published in the electronic database of the lower house of parliament.
"The provision of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, limiting the number of terms the same individual may serve as the President of the Russian Federation, is applied to an individual who has served and/or is serving as the President of the Russian Federation without taking into account the number of terms he served and/or is serving in this capacity at the moment of the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation becoming effective which introduces the corresponding limitation and does not exclude for him a possibility to serve as the President of the Russian Federation during the terms allowed by the said provision," the text read.
In order to develop new constitutional provisions, the draft legislation also introduces additional requirements to presidential candidates.
"A citizen of the Russian Federation no younger than 35 years of age, permanently residing in the Russian Federation for no less than 25 years, who does not have and have not had earlier a citizenship of a foreign state nor a residence permit may be elected President of the Russian Federation," the document stated. The requirement of an absence of a foreign citizenship will not apply to those Russian citizens "who earlier had citizenship of a country which was accepted or part of which was accepted in the Russian Federation in accordance with the federal constitutional law."
On March 10, while reviewing a draft legislation on changes to the Constitution in the second reading, the State Duma accepted the amendment proposed by lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova on the right of the incumbent president to run for a new term. The head of state during his speech in the lower house of parliament supported the initiative provided it would be reviewed by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. On March 16, the Constitutional Court explained that the proposed amendment corresponds to the fundamental law and does not contradict the 1998 decree of the Constitutional Court.