# 2020 constitutional amendments resetting presidential term counts enter into force

Date: 2020

## The fact

On 14 March 2020 President Putin signed Law of the Russian Federation on Amendment to the Constitution No. 1-FKZ. After a nationwide vote held from 25 June to 1 July 2020, he signed Executive Order No. 445 on 3 July 2020 on the official publication of the amended Constitution, and the amendments entered into force on 4 July 2020. The package reset prior presidential terms to zero, expanded presidential power over courts and the State Council, and wrote social guarantees into the text.

## Context

[Valentina Tereshkova](/people/valentina-tereshkova)’s Duma amendment supplied the reset. The vote was held under COVID rules that independent monitors criticised. [Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) signed; the Duma and regions approved; the constitutional court blessed the package. He did not write every social clause as a personal cheque.

The 2024 presidential election is a different date. The 2008 term-length change to six years is a different presidency.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

President of Russia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [democratic-resilience](/drivers/democratic-resilience): zeroing prior terms is a completed removal of the remaining constitutional brake on a long presidency.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Law No. 1-FKZ signed on 14 March 2020; a nationwide vote held 25 June–1 July 2020; Executive Order No. 445 of 3 July 2020; the amendments, including the reset of prior presidential term counts, in force from 4 July 2020.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Duma supplied the reset clause. The constitutional court declined to stop it.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies 2020 constitutional amendments resetting presidential term counts enter into force, not a later speech about 2020 constitutional amendments resetting presidential term counts enter into force.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. 2020 constitutional amendments resetting presidential term counts enter into force on 2020-07-04 is not a licence to treat every later President of Russia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average 2020 constitutional amendments resetting presidential term counts enter into force into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He promoted and signed the amendment law. The Duma supplied the reset clause. The constitutional court declined to stop it. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience

## Sources

- http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202003140001
- https://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/62988
- https://www.rferl.org/a/30704684.html
- https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63598

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-constitution-reset-2020