Amendments to the Russian Constitution have come into force on July 4, 2020. Earlier Vladimir Putin signed the decree on amendments to the Constitution and by the same decree, the new Constitution was published. Voting on the amendments ended on July 1. The Central Election Commission approved the results: 77.92% supported the changes.
The amendments provide stricter requirements for presidential candidates and a limit on the number of presidential terms. The head of state will present to the Federation Council candidates for the post of head and judges of the Constitutional, Supreme and other Federal courts, their deputies, as well as form the State Council of the Russian Federation.
It is also proposed to prohibit top officials from having a residence permit and citizenship of other countries and expand the powers of the Parliament — the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet will be appointed by the President only after their candidacies are approved by the Duma. It provides the priority of the country’s Constitutional Law over international agreements.
In addition, the amendments fix regular indexation of pensions and social benefits, guarantees of the minimum wage at the level of at least the subsistence minimum of the working population.
