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| Putin Hints at Holding Power Past 2024, and Defends Trump on Impeachment | Putin Hints at Holding Power Past 2024, and Defends Trump on Impeachment |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| MOSCOW — Just hours after President Trump became only the third American leader to be impeached, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday mocked what he described as an attempt by Democrats to reverse the 2016 election, and hinted that he could, himself, stay in power for many more years. | MOSCOW — Just hours after President Trump became only the third American leader to be impeached, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday mocked what he described as an attempt by Democrats to reverse the 2016 election, and hinted that he could, himself, stay in power for many more years. |
| Taking questions for more than four hours at his annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian president embraced Republican talking points, deriding the impeachment process in Washington as baseless and destined to fail. | Taking questions for more than four hours at his annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian president embraced Republican talking points, deriding the impeachment process in Washington as baseless and destined to fail. |
| “This is nothing but a continuation of an internal political struggle, with the party that lost the election, the Democratic Party, trying to reach its goal by different means,” Mr. Putin said during the 15th edition of the news conference, a well-worn ritual that the president uses to parade his mastery of domestic policy detail and take swipes at political tumult overseas. | “This is nothing but a continuation of an internal political struggle, with the party that lost the election, the Democratic Party, trying to reach its goal by different means,” Mr. Putin said during the 15th edition of the news conference, a well-worn ritual that the president uses to parade his mastery of domestic policy detail and take swipes at political tumult overseas. |
| Mr. Putin was far less emphatic in his take on Russia’s own political affairs, particularly its next presidential election in 2024. He sidestepped a direct question about his future plans, while raising the possibility that Russia’s Constitution, which bars him from seeking another term, might be changed. | Mr. Putin was far less emphatic in his take on Russia’s own political affairs, particularly its next presidential election in 2024. He sidestepped a direct question about his future plans, while raising the possibility that Russia’s Constitution, which bars him from seeking another term, might be changed. |
| Moscow has been abuzz for months with speculation about whether Mr. Putin, who has been in power for 20 years, will step down at the end of his current and supposedly final term in 2024. | Moscow has been abuzz for months with speculation about whether Mr. Putin, who has been in power for 20 years, will step down at the end of his current and supposedly final term in 2024. |
| Wary of declaring himself a lame duck and triggering a destabilizing succession struggle, Mr. Putin has kept his plans secret. His comments on Thursday were so ambiguous that they set off another round of Kremlin tea-leaf reading. | Wary of declaring himself a lame duck and triggering a destabilizing succession struggle, Mr. Putin has kept his plans secret. His comments on Thursday were so ambiguous that they set off another round of Kremlin tea-leaf reading. |
| His musing publicly about revising the Constitution, which bars a president from serving more than two successive terms, raised the possibility that he may want to run for a third consecutive term — which would keep him in office through 2030 — and possibly more. | His musing publicly about revising the Constitution, which bars a president from serving more than two successive terms, raised the possibility that he may want to run for a third consecutive term — which would keep him in office through 2030 — and possibly more. |
| But it could also mean that he wants to remove only the reference to consecutive terms, which would actually strengthen the two-term limit. That would prevent future presidents from repeating his own controversial maneuver in 2008, when he stepped down after two terms to become prime minister — while holding onto most of his power — only to return four years later for a third presidential term. He also found another way to extend his grip on power, lengthening the terms from four years to six. | |
| In an interview with state television after the news conference, Mr. Putin played down the significance of his comment, saying that he had simply answered a question put to him about the Constitution, adding, “I can’t say this was something prepared from my side.” He said he was open to the idea of increasing the powers of Russia’s Parliament, which has become little more than a rubber stamp and cheerleading squad for the Kremlin. | In an interview with state television after the news conference, Mr. Putin played down the significance of his comment, saying that he had simply answered a question put to him about the Constitution, adding, “I can’t say this was something prepared from my side.” He said he was open to the idea of increasing the powers of Russia’s Parliament, which has become little more than a rubber stamp and cheerleading squad for the Kremlin. |
| A more powerful Parliament “is quite justified in principle,” he said. “But you can’t take rash steps on this and you can’t be in a hurry.” | A more powerful Parliament “is quite justified in principle,” he said. “But you can’t take rash steps on this and you can’t be in a hurry.” |
| Proud of his role in ending the political turmoil that convulsed Russia under his predecessor, Boris N. Yeltsin, Mr. Putin has made stability — his critics say stagnation — the centerpiece of his two decades in power. | |
| The contrast between Mr. Putin’s seemingly immovable role in Russia and the tumultuous political fighting in the United States could hardly be starker. | The contrast between Mr. Putin’s seemingly immovable role in Russia and the tumultuous political fighting in the United States could hardly be starker. |
| The Kremlin, which rooted against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and interfered to benefit Mr. Trump, has watched Washington’s noisy partisan feuds with glee, seeing them as proof that Russia, which has not had a fair presidential election since Mr. Putin took power, has chosen the right path. | The Kremlin, which rooted against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and interfered to benefit Mr. Trump, has watched Washington’s noisy partisan feuds with glee, seeing them as proof that Russia, which has not had a fair presidential election since Mr. Putin took power, has chosen the right path. |
| Offering an analysis of America’s political tumult, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Trump was unlikely to be removed for “highly speculative reasons” by the Republican-controlled Senate. | Offering an analysis of America’s political tumult, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Trump was unlikely to be removed for “highly speculative reasons” by the Republican-controlled Senate. |
| As in the past, Mr. Putin focused on domestic affairs during his marathon news conference, answering questions about garbage collection, airfares to the Russian Far East, doctors’ salaries and many other, sometimes microscopic local issues. | As in the past, Mr. Putin focused on domestic affairs during his marathon news conference, answering questions about garbage collection, airfares to the Russian Far East, doctors’ salaries and many other, sometimes microscopic local issues. |
| The event, attended by hundreds of journalists and broadcast live on state television, has often tended to be more a carnival of flattery than a news event. At Thursday’s event, a journalist from Yekaterinburg was called on to ask a question while holding up a sign reading: “I love Putin.” And another reporter held a sign that said she wanted to ask “about dogs,” a topic eagerly addressed by the president, a dog lover, in previous years. | The event, attended by hundreds of journalists and broadcast live on state television, has often tended to be more a carnival of flattery than a news event. At Thursday’s event, a journalist from Yekaterinburg was called on to ask a question while holding up a sign reading: “I love Putin.” And another reporter held a sign that said she wanted to ask “about dogs,” a topic eagerly addressed by the president, a dog lover, in previous years. |
| More hard-hitting questions went mostly unanswered. Asked whether he would acknowledge that two women widely reported to be his daughters were indeed his children, Mr. Putin veered off into a long disquisition about the importance of developing high-tech projects in Russia. | More hard-hitting questions went mostly unanswered. Asked whether he would acknowledge that two women widely reported to be his daughters were indeed his children, Mr. Putin veered off into a long disquisition about the importance of developing high-tech projects in Russia. |
| One of the women named as his daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, is involved in a multimillion-dollar, high-tech development project funded in part by the state. | One of the women named as his daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, is involved in a multimillion-dollar, high-tech development project funded in part by the state. |
| He was more forthcoming about foreign affairs, but stuck mostly to well-practiced denials of well-documented Russian involvement in various misdeeds abroad. He denied that Russian troops were involved in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine, and denounced as unfair and unfounded the World Anti-Doping Agency’s recent decision to ban Russian teams from the Olympics and other international competitions. | He was more forthcoming about foreign affairs, but stuck mostly to well-practiced denials of well-documented Russian involvement in various misdeeds abroad. He denied that Russian troops were involved in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine, and denounced as unfair and unfounded the World Anti-Doping Agency’s recent decision to ban Russian teams from the Olympics and other international competitions. |
| Mr. Putin used a question from Dimitri K. Simes, a Russian-born American expert on Russia, to riff about American politics and take another swipe at findings that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 presidential election. | Mr. Putin used a question from Dimitri K. Simes, a Russian-born American expert on Russia, to riff about American politics and take another swipe at findings that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 presidential election. |
| United States intelligence agencies declared in January 2017 that Mr. Putin had personally ordered an “influence campaign” to tilt the 2016 vote in Mr. Trump’s favor, an assessment that both Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump have repeatedly rejected. | United States intelligence agencies declared in January 2017 that Mr. Putin had personally ordered an “influence campaign” to tilt the 2016 vote in Mr. Trump’s favor, an assessment that both Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump have repeatedly rejected. |
| “First they accuse Trump of a collusion with Russia. Then it turns out there was no collusion, so this cannot be used as a basis for impeachment,” Mr. Putin said. “Now they’ve come up with the idea he put pressure on Ukraine.” | “First they accuse Trump of a collusion with Russia. Then it turns out there was no collusion, so this cannot be used as a basis for impeachment,” Mr. Putin said. “Now they’ve come up with the idea he put pressure on Ukraine.” |