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Today's topic is "Putin Backs Constitutional Change Allowing Him to Stay in Office"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported a constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek reelection in 2024. The constitutional change would pave the way for the 67-year-old Putin to stay in office until 2036.

Valentina Tereshkova, an 83-year-old lawmaker who is revered in Russia as the first woman to travel to space, proposed either scrapping Russia's two-term limit for presidents or restarting the clock when the constitution is amended.

Putin and the lower house of parliament quickly endorsed the proposal. Lawmakers also passed a set of constitutional amendments that include defining marriage as a heterosexual union and language promising to respect "belief in God."

In a speech to lawmakers, Putin opposed doing away with the presidential term limit, saying, "Society must have guarantees of regular government rotation." But he backed stopping the count and restarting it in 2024, if the Russian Constitution is revised. Putin's current term ends in 2024.

A nationwide vote on the amendments is scheduled for April 22.

Putin has been in power for more than 20 years. He is Russia's longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.

After serving two presidential terms in 2000-2008, Putin briefly became prime minister while his ally Dmitry Medvedev served as president. After Medvedev extended the length of a presidential term to six years, Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012 and won another term in 2018.

Observers had been speculating as to what steps Putin would take to stay in power, but it wasn't clear until Tereshkova's proposal. Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said Putin may have been prompted to act by the sudden decline in the value of the ruble, caused by a drop in global oil prices.

Opposition activists had been planning a March 21 protest rally in Moscow that they expected up to 50,000 people to attend. However, Moscow authorities quickly banned outdoor events with more than 5,000 people until April 10, saying it was necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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