Daily Journal:

If these amendments are adopted, then the referendum will be buried as a form of democracy. We haven’t had referendums for a long time, precisely because the laws governing them are absolutely draconian. Two years ago, 15 of the 17 questions proposed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were rejected by the Central Election Commission. We appealed to the Constitutional Court and won the case - the grounds on which we were then prohibited from holding a referendum were recognized as unconstitutional. That is, the laws that we had were unconstitutional, and what the gentlemen from United Russia are now proposing is even worse.

Let's look at the document: “A referendum cannot be used for the purpose of making decisions that contradict the Constitution, derogating or limiting the generally recognized rights and freedoms of citizens.” Any question is a limitation for someone. This phrase can be interpreted as broadly as you like. The next point: it is impossible to raise issues the decision of “which falls within the competence of legislative bodies” and federal authorities in general. So the purpose of a referendum is to make decisions different from those taken by the government. This means that if something falls within the powers of the president, it cannot be put to a referendum. Not a single question can be put to a referendum, not one.
Now the situation is very tense - that’s why these amendments appeared. The screws are being tightened, the protection of citizens' rights is entrusted to the citizens themselves (and this is already being openly discussed). Someday an explosion must happen, I think that the elections will show this now - there will be a protest vote. And people will say, for example: “Let’s abolish the post of president.” Is this a normal question? It was introduced by a referendum and can be canceled by a referendum. And then they will say: “Well, this is contrary to the Constitution.” Or better yet: “Infringes on the rights of the current president.” Or this issue falls within the competence of government agencies. That's all. But a referendum is needed in order to resolve the most important issues of public life. This is written in the law.
Students brought me the text of this law today. Second-year students say: “That’s it, the end of the referendum.” I was very surprised to read the names of the authors of this law. For example, Gruzdev (our future cosmonaut). I know this man, he studied with me. And Mr. Grebennikov. I understand that they are members of the United Russia faction, but they are also professionals, lawyers. And this document is simply blatantly incompetent. And I have no doubt that the Duma will accept this. Another thing is that we will immediately appeal to the Constitutional Court.
I'm sure we need to fight this. Oleg Kulikov is absolutely right, absolutely. What United Russia is proposing is the complete elimination of the referendum as an instrument of democracy. And democracy is one of the slogans of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and we will defend it to the end.