The second one went

Following the Chechen deputies, the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, began a discussion on a “pointed” change in the Constitution

The Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin last had a dissenting opinion a quarter of a century ago, and then he agreed with everything, sometimes even running ahead of himself. The last time we wrote about Zorkin was when he sang serfdom on the pages of Rossiyskaya Gazeta as a "clamp" that kept the people from various kinds of lack of spirituality.

But now the head of the Constitutional Court has turned out to be a freethinker. In the same newspaper, Zorkin talks about the shortcomings that exist in the current Constitution and proposes "point changes." Among the things noted by Zorkin are a tilt towards the executive branch, an insufficiently clearly defined division of duties between the president and the government, an uncertain status of the presidential administration and the powers of the prosecutor's office.

All these things are, of course, well known to specialists in constitutional law. Actually, there are two problems with the constitutional structure, as it is written in the text of the main law. First, due to the specific historical circumstances under which the 1993 Constitution was drafted, the country's political system is classified as super-presidential. The president is actually a figure standing above the executive, legislative and judicial branches of power at the same time. Secondly, such an interpretation of the Constitution presupposes several ghost departments, which are not spelled out in the main law, but at the same time play a key role in the real governance of the country. First of all, this concerns just the presidential administration, a body whose current role is a direct consequence of the “super-presidency”.

The fact that Zorkin, obviously, on the 25th anniversary of the current Constitution, decided to pay attention to these problems, made many people happy. Some observers even began to speculate that Zorkin was “on the mend”: they say, instead of an apology for serfdom, he took up work in his specialty. But the joy may be premature, and context is important here.

"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" presents the arguments of the chairman of the Constitutional Court through the concern that "alarming calls for cardinal constitutional reforms" are increasingly being heard in society. In other words, to the adoption of a new Constitution that is more in line with the spirit of the current era, or at least to a serious rewriting of the current one, this is possible if the first Constitutional Assembly in Russian history is assembled. Where are the "alarm calls" coming from? Mostly from those citizens who really do not like the current first chapter of the Constitution.

It declares the priority of human rights over the interests of the state. And some hotheads, like the chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, see this as a direct threat to sovereignty.

It turns out that Zorkin's thesis is something like this: there is no need to completely change the Constitution, but "point changes", perhaps even of a liberal persuasion, will not be superfluous. Yes, and hotheads in such a scenario, perhaps, there is something to offer along the lines of "strengthening sovereignty." This is the key problem of Zorkin's "recovery": why did he speak about the benefits of adjusting the basic law right now? Is it really all about the anniversary date?

Whatever Bastrykin claims, the Russian authorities, not without the support of the chairman of the Constitutional Court, have learned to read the Constitution in such a way that it does not prevent them from adopting any laws that are convenient for themselves. So it is no longer a big hindrance for anyone. There is, of course, one notable exception, and that is the question of the 2024 presidential election. It is this factor that determines any talk of constitutional reform today. "Liberalization from Zorkin" looks like a trial balloon.

One of the first balls of this kind, back in May, immediately after the presidential elections, launched the Chechen parliament. In the draft law submitted to the State Duma, Kadyrov's deputies proposed to amend the Constitution and allow "one person to hold the office of president three times in a row", citing "the stability achieved and the need to maintain it." Now Zorkin took part in the game called "let's discuss how we can better adjust the Constitution." He did not seem to be going to solve the “problem-2024” for the Kremlin, but it is clear that if it comes down to it, anything can be in the final package of amendments. But it is better to start a “broad public discussion” with correct remarks about the overestimated role of the executive branch of government.

Many people have associations between constitutional changes and the number 2024. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov immediately stated that the Kremlin was not planning anything of the kind, and Zorkin's article should be understood as a "personal expert point of view." But the hypothesis that Zorkin is probing the ground for another presidential campaign five years before it starts, we will most likely be able to test in the coming months. If the Chechen deputies and the chairman of the Constitutional Court do not get a third friend from among the officials, we can assume that Rossiyskaya Gazeta was really just preparing for the anniversary.

As for Zorkin's new-found free-thinking, it would be much more useful for the citizens of Russia if it were aimed at revising the mass of anti-constitutional laws and judicial decisions that have accumulated in recent years. Today, any attempts to manipulate the text of the Constitution, even the most plausible ones, will be beneficial only to the current Russian authorities.