Putin wants God to be above the new Russian Constitution

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Vice-Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy unveiled a few details about the amendments, which President Vladimir Putin's submitted to the second reading of the bill to amend the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

They are to be considered in the second reading on March 10, and in the third - on March 11. Putin's amendments to the Constitution take 24 pages.

The amendments in particular include:

•     the mentioning of God;
•     provision on the inadmissibility of alienation of the territory of the Russian Federation;
•     a ban for civil servants to hold foreign accounts and foreign citizenship;
•     provision on marriage as a union of a man and a woman;
•     provision on the Russian people as a state-forming people (also implies that the state language in the country is Russian, while the republics of the Russian Federation have the right to establish their languages);
•     provision on the succession of the Russian Federation in relation to the USSR;
•     provision establishing that the minimum wage should not be lower than the cost of living.

Putin also renamed the draft law on amending the Russian Constitution. Now the document is called "On improving the regulation of certain issues of the organization of the functioning of public authority" (formerly - "On improving regulation of certain issues of the organization of public authority").

Vladimir Putin initiated amending the Constitution during his Annual Address to the Federal Assembly on January 15, 2020. The president introduced the corresponding bill for consideration by the State Duma; it was passed during the first reading on January 23. The second reading is to take place on March 10th. On April 22, it is planned to hold a nationwide vote on the amendments.