National Post:[2] Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that could keep him in office in the Kremlin until 2036, the government said on Monday.[3] The legislation allows him to run for two more six-year terms once his current stint ends in 2024. It follows changes to the constitution last year.
[4] Putin is currently serving his second consecutive term as president (and his fourth in total). If he wins both elections, Putin would surpass Josef Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1927 until 1953, as the longest serving leader of Russia since Peter the Great.
[5] The constitutional changes were backed in a public vote last summer and would allow Putin, 68, to potentially remain in power until the age of 83.
[6] The reform, which critics cast as a constitutional coup, was packaged with an array of other amendments that were expected to garner popular support, such as one bolstering pension protections.
[7] The law signed by Putin limits any future president to two terms in office, but resets his term count. It prevents anyone who has held foreign citizenship from running for the Kremlin.The legislation was passed in the lower and upper houses of parliament last month.