News that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s latter-day tsar, is making plans to cling to power indefinitely comes as no surprise. Putin, 67, has run Russia, as president and prime minister, for 21 years, a feat of political longevity surpassed only by Joseph Stalin. So under proposals unveiled last week, Putin could assume a newly powerful post of prime minister in 2024 when his presidential term ends. The accompanying, enforced resignation of the entire government, including the prime minister, Dmitri Medvedev, is Putin’s attempt to reset his administration before Duma elections next year. His appointment as prime minister of a non-politician, Mikhail Mishustin, an old ice hockey chum and pliable tax chief, is meanwhile seen as a clumsy way of denying a platform to potential rivals.

Source: The Guardian January 18, 2020 13:52 UTC