The State Duma of Russia adopted amendments to the Constitution in the first reading

The State Duma of the Russian Federation in the course of the plenary meeting on Thursday adopted law-in-draft on an amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation “On improving regulation of certain issues of public authority organization” in first reading. On January 20, it was introduced by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, and the day before it was considered by the relevant Committee on State Building and Legislation. All four factions supported the document.

Chairman of the relevant Committee on State Building and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov recalled that the draft proposes amendments to 22 articles of chapters 3 to 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and does not affect its fundamental provisions.

He emphasized that many of the changes proposed by the President already operate at the level of laws, but now it is proposed to consolidate them at the constitutional level. Pavel Krasheninnikov recalled that the law-in-draft establishes the need for indexing pensions and social benefits, and also establishes that the minimum wage cannot be lower than the subsistence level. Among the other changes proposed by Vladimir Putin there are the consolidation in the Constitution of new requirements for candidates for the post of President of the Russian Federation, new requirements for officials, deputies and judges, the strengthening of the role of the State Duma and the Federation Council, as well as the consolidation of the role of the State Council. The factions announced that they would prepare their amendments for the second reading of the amendments to the main law.