Yaroslav Butakov: We need a new Constitution

On June 27, 2005, the Political News Agency published Yaroslav Butakov's comment "Why do we need repairs". The author of the comment returns to the constitutional reform , designed to keep the incumbent president in power.

Of course, the long stay of one person at the highest post of the state is a guarantee of stability, the author believes, however, the mere change of Article 81 of the Constitution clearly threatens not only the image of the authorities, but also "positive political trends in Russia" .

Such a reform will not reduce the threat of Russia's disintegration, which is connected not so much with centrifugal tendencies as with the general inefficiency of power provoking these tendencies, Y. Butakov believes. The authorities must fight with all their might for the preservation of the country ( "No law should be an obstacle to the implementation by the authorities of the necessary measures to preserve the country and its people as a political subject - this state axiom, which rejects the ideological dogmas of radical liberalism, should become a norm, perceived by the authorities and society on subconscious level" - so the author).

As a solution to the problem, the creation of a "united state of Russia and Belarus with the concomitant adoption of a union constitution that allows prolonging the term of office of the current Russian president is considered ... supporters of this project, positive trends associated with the stability of Russian power, will intensify due to the process of reintegration of the post-imperial space that has begun " . However, for the implementation of "any integration projects led by the Russian Federation in the expanses of the former USSR," a is necessary "radical state reorganization of the Russian Federation itself" , and this requires not a "cosmetic change" of one of the articles of the Constitution, but the adoption of a new Basic Law.

Only a new Constitution can eliminate the main factors due to which, the author believes, "the building of Russian statehood is in a permanent state of limbo" . The author considers such factors: "the uncertainty of the subject - the founder of the Russian statehood; the uncertainty of Russian sovereignty - both in relation to external subjects, the norms of agreements with which are declared priority over the norms of the Constitution, and in relation to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, some of which have the completely constitutional status of "states as part of the Russian Federation", the complete insecurity of the mechanisms for protecting Russian sovereignty; the preservation in the design of the Russian Federation of the same Leninist "time bomb" that blew up the USSR - the national-state principle of structure based on the "self-determination of peoples", proclaimed by the current Constitution ; blurring contours of succession of power in case of emergency" .

Sources

• Butakov Y. Why do we need repairs // Political News Agency. 2005. June 27.