Judging by international media reaction, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shocked the world last week by announcing a series of reforms to the country’s Constitution. It’s not clear why so many observers of Russian politics were surprised.
It’s been widely known that a major watershed is coming up in 2024 when Putin is required to step down as president. It’s been equally obvious that Putin has been thinking about this, and a solution was always going to emerge from him sooner rather than later.
The fact that Putin announced the first steps towards the long-anticipated change shouldn’t surprise anyone. Putin and his aids in the Presidential Administration have had all the time they wanted to come up with a plan of what to do with the “2024 problem,” and they undoubtedly have a detailed strategy.
The problem for the rest of us is that no one knows exactly what their plan is.
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Article originally appeared in the Globe Post.
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