The uniqueness of the constitutional reform of 2020 and its consequences for the future of Russia

Abstract

The relevance of the study is caused by the upcoming election of the RF President in 2024 in the context of continuing sanctions against Russia. The author analyzed, summarized, and grouped critical and analytical conclusions available in the scientific literature concerning the content of the constitutional reform of 2020 and its possible consequences. The novelty is in the systematization of numerous views on the significance of the constitutional reform of 2020 and the author’s forecast of the impact of this reform on the nature of the presidential election in 2024 and the further constitutional development of Russia. The paper aims at the analysis of the unique features of the constitutional reform of 2020. The author made the following conclusions: 1) the reform is unique in terms of legitimation methods, content, structure, and consequences; 2) the reason for the unexpected announcement of the constitutional reform is the need to stabilize power and the constitutional order by providing the current RF President with the opportunity to run for the next presidential election; 3) chapters 1 and 2 of the Constitution are not formally affected by the reform, while the amendments to chapters 3–8 actually affect the content of the first two chapters; 4) the contradictions arisen in the text of the Constitution exclude its new full-scale reform; 5) the powers of the President have been strengthened against the background of the seeming strengthening of the Parliament and the Constitutional Court; 6) a unique three-stage way of legitimizing amendments to the Constitution; 7) the coincidence of the powers of the State Council and the President in terms of determining the main directions of the state policy is a replacement solution for the political future of the current President of the Russian Federation. Despite criticism of the reform, the author concludes that the nature of the Constitution is the sovereign affair of the Russian people, who actually legalized the reform in the form of a plebiscite on the confidence of V.V. Putin. It is concluded that a new Russian constitution will soon be adopted, and the possibility of its adoption simultaneously with the presidential election campaign is not ruled out.