Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia will not legalize same-sex marriages as long as he is in power.
"As long as I am president, this will not happen," he said at a meeting where potential changes to the constitution were discussed, according to state media.
Public promotion of homosexuality is a criminal offense in Russia under a law signed by Putin in 2013.
Putin (67) has been in power as president and prime minister for two decades, and his current mandate expires in 2024. He is the longest-lived Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin, Hina reminds.
Some of the constitutional amendments under consideration could allow him to retain power beyond his current term, as prime minister with extended powers, senator for life or head of the advisory State Council.
"Check every comma"
Putin said that it is very important to check every word, every letter, every comma, but at the same time not to dilute anything that was created "by the work of our people in the current Constitution".
"We should not lose anything, but respond to today's challenges," Putin said at a meeting with the working group for changes to the Constitution, reports Tas.
According to him, the working group started working immediately after the first meeting on January 16.
He added that the number of proposed amendments has already reached 500: "It is a serious challenge".
The country won in the Constitution
Putin supported the idea of entering Russia's status as a country that won World War II into the Russian constitution, saying that Russian society is immensely grateful to those who saved the world from Nazism 75 years ago, reports Tanjug.
He assesses that the attempts of certain countries to rewrite the history of that war are dangerous and can have far-reaching consequences.
Such attempts, as he assessed, are not aimed at the present, but at the future.
According to him, in archival documents, including Nazi documents, Hitler's plans regarding Russia were clearly formulated, a small part of the working-age population should be preserved as a slave force, while the rest should be expelled and shot.
"None of us would be alive today. We should never forget that and for that we will always be grateful to those who achieved that victory for us," Putin said.
Where did the idea of the status of the winner in the Constitution come from?
The idea of introducing the status of the winner into the Constitution was proposed by the chairman of the temporary commission of the Federation Council for Information Policy and Cooperation with the Mass Media, Aleksey Pushkov, who explained his proposal by the fact that many countries have it in their constitutions and that it is important that the status of Russia as winners is found in the preamble of the Constitution.
Putin, however, indicated that he is not sure that Russia's nuclear status should be included in the Constitution, because, as he explained, it is not important that Russia is a nuclear power today, but it is important that it is always one step ahead of all the latest weapons systems.
Last July, Putin signed a decree declaring 2020 the year of remembrance and glory of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
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