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The
amendment is one of an array of constitutional changes proposed
by Putin as part of a shake-up of the political system that
critics say may be designed to keep him in power after he is due
to leave the Kremlin in 2024.
Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for two decades,
submitted his proposed amendments to parliament on Monday.
If adopted, the territorial amendment would make it
unconstitutional for Putin or any of his successors in the
Kremlin to give ground in territorial rows with Japan and
Ukraine without first changing the constitution.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in
2014. It has also been in a decades-long dispute with Tokyo over
ownership of a chain of islands in the Pacific that Moscow
seized from Japan at the end of World War Two.
Russia has moved to integrate Crimea into its economy and
infrastructure, though the peninsula is still widely recognized
internationally as Ukrainian territory and Western governments
have said Moscow must give it back.
"Actions ... directed toward the transfer of parts of Russia's
territory, and also calls for such actions, are not allowed,"
the text of Putin's constitutional proposal says.
The amendment stipulates that it would not affect the
"delimitation, demarcation, redemarcation of Russia's state
borders with neighboring states".
A separate amendment stipulates that the office of president can
only be held by a Russian citizen aged at least 35 who has not
held citizenship of, or official residency rights in, any other
country.
However, it proposes making an exception for people if they are
from countries or parts of countries that have been absorbed
into Russia.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Gareth Jones)
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