The attitude of President Vladimir Putin to possible constitutional amendments prolonging his term of office or allowing him to run for a third term remained unchanged, the Kremlin press service said on Friday. “The Russian President has spoken on this issue many times and his attitude remains unchanged,” the press service said, commenting on the latest proposal by the speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, Sergei Mironov, to prolong the presidential term and allow a third consecutive term.After being re-elected as the speaker of the upper house, Mironov proposed that instead of current four-year, the presidential mandate should be extended to five-seven years, adding a third consecutive term to enable Putin run for his third term.“Four years is a very short term for Russia. I propose you consider amending the relevant constitutional provisions,” Mironov told the House. He said he proposed that local legislatures across Russia to discuss the issue in April and May, with Putin himself making the final decision. However, Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of State Duma, the lower house, in a statement opposed amending the Constitution, stressing he disagreed with Mironov’s proposal.“I do not support statements about amending the Constitution,” Gryzlov said stressing “United Russia party, which holds the majority in the Duma, will guard the Constitution’s inviolability.” Currently, Putin is serving his second term which will end early 2008 and he has repeatedly publicly said he would not run for his third term. In one of his recent interviews, the President once more noted that he could not demand law observance from others if he would himself violate laws, and first of all the Constitution, which did not allow to be elected more than two consecutive terms. Earlier, the Federation Council re-elected Mironov speaker in a 156-0 vote, with one abstention. Before the vote, it again confirmed him as a Senator representing St Petersburg’s newly elected legislature.
