He confirmed in a RIA interview Thursday that the State Duma, or parliament's lower house, was indeed going to consider Ivanovo MPs' motion on the extension of the presidential tenure to seven years. According to him, the house intends to discuss the possibility of relevant constitutional amendments later this month.
Krasheninnikov said he personally was opposed to this initiative. "The rules must not be changed in the course of a game," especially with a presidential election campaign in full swing, he pointed out.
Our interviewee believes that amending the Constitution to legitimize a longer presidential term will be wrong from both the ethical and the legal points of view. "The introduction of such changes into the Constitution will put the presidential hopefuls into an embarrassing position," he argues.
Russia's next presidential polls are set for March 14.
