Russia Considers Appointing Former Presidents as Lifetime Senators

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian presidents could become senators for life when they leave office under a proposed reform, a senior parliamentary official said on Tuesday, a status that would give them immunity from prosecution.

The initiative, drawn up by a government commission, follows sweeping changes to Russia’s political system proposed last month by President Vladimir Putin.

Putin’s proposals, which came with a government reshuffle, would take power away from the presidency and were widely seen as intended to help him expand his grip on power after he leaves the presidency in 2024.

The lower house of Parliament approved the changes in a preliminary vote last month. The commission’s proposals will also be put to a vote.

Among them is the suggestion that presidents become lifelong lawmakers in the upper house of parliament after their term in the Kremlin ends or after they resign, Pavel Krasheninnikov, deputy head of the working group, said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Under Russian law, lawmakers in both the lower and upper houses of parliament are immune from criminal prosecution.

Krasheninnikov said the idea was put forward by members of the working group and was based on their study of the upper houses of parliaments in other countries. He did not specify that the measure was intended to protect former presidents from criminal prosecution.

He said it would allow Russia to tap into the “colossal experience and knowledge” of former presidents.

The commission has already presented a series of other proposals, including one that would change Putin’s job description to that of supreme leader.

Before becoming law, constitutional amendments must be approved by the lower house of parliament in two additional votes before being voted on by the upper house, considered by regional parliaments and then signed by Putin.

Putin said the changes would be put to a national vote, but it was unclear when that might take place.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; editing by Philippa Fletcher)