Putin in push to extend his term
Mark Franchetti, Moscow
20sep04
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin is considering extending his term of office, due to expire in 2008, in a sign of his determination to tighten his grip on power and crack down on terrorism after the Beslan school massacre.
Moscow sources say plans are being drawn up to lengthen Mr Putin's mandate from four years to seven, or to change the rules so he can stand for a third term as president.
If implemented, this measure would make Mr Putin the longest-serving Russian leader since Leonid Brezhnev, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982.
The plans emerged at the end of a week in which Mr Putin announced the ending of the election of regional governors.
"Before Beslan, Putin had serious reservations about staying on," said a source close to the Kremlin.
"He worried about how bad it would look if he changed the law. But the rationale inside the Kremlin now is that Russia is at war and he should not abandon the country.
"After all, he is the commander-in-chief. I have no doubt he wants to stay on. It's just a question of how best to achieve his goal."
Mr Putin's measures will cancel some of the democratic reforms introduced by Boris Yeltsin, who dismantled the power of the former communist state.
The 89 regional governors will be appointed by Moscow rather than elected, and all the seats in the Duma, the lower house of parliament, will be allocated on the basis of party lists. Critics say the Kremlin could manipulate such lists.
Mr Putin said the measures would strengthen the unity of the country and prevent further crises following the terrorist attack on the Beslan school, in which more than 330 people were killed, half of them children.
Criticising the plan, US President George W. Bush said he was "concerned about decisions being made in Russia that could undermine democracy".
The US criticisms were echoed by Chris Patten, the European Union's external relations commissioner, who said he hoped the Russian Government would not conclude that "the only answer to terrorism is to increase the power of the Kremlin".
Such remarks have angered Moscow, which warned the US not to meddle in Russia's internal affairs.
Mr Putin, who served in the KGB for 16 years, warned darkly of foreign forces seeking to weaken Russia.
"Some would like to tear a piece away from us and others are helping them," the Russian leader declared in an address to the nation.
Domestic reaction to Mr Putin's plans has been muted, showing the extent to which the changes will formalise the Kremlin's dominance of much of Russian life.
In a display of the fear and sycophancy that have pervaded the Russian political elite, governors from Vladivostok to Moscow lined up to praise initiatives that will curb their own powers.
The Sunday Times
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