Poor President Putin. According to Russia’s constitution, he won’t be able to run for the presidency again when his second term ends in 2008. Speculation is always rampant about whether or not he will run again, and just a week ago he was lamenting the fact that he cannot run again because the constitution does not allow it.

Russian president Vladimir Putin stressed that the constitution of the Russian Federation did not allow him to remain the head of state after 2008. ???????I may want it but the constitution doesn????????t allow me to do so. I think the most important factor in today????????s Russia is stability achieved by compliance with constitutional provisions,??????? Putin said at a news conference following talks with his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen.

Of course, he never ruled out the possibility of running should the constitution be changed. Is it any coincidence, then, that Russian lawmakers are working fervently to make sure that this happens?

A group of deputies of the local legislature in the Russian Far East region of Primorye have drafted amendments to the Constitution enabling President Vladimir Putin to run for the third term, the NTV television reported on Wednesday.

One of the deputies told the channel that the effective constitution contains contradiction and must be amended.

Adam Imadayev said in an interview that in accordance with Article 32 of the Constitution, citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to vote and run for government posts if they are legally capable and are not serving a prison sentence passed by a court of law. However, Article 81, paragraph 3, says that one and the same person cannot hold the post of the Russian president for more than two consecutive terms. In other words, one article does not impose any limitations while another one does, the deputy said.

The proposal was approved on Wednesday by the Law Committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Primorye Region. The legislature will consider it in early September and if approved, the document will be submitted to the State Duma.

Maybe we should just go ahead and change his title to “President-for-life Putin” while we’re ahead of the game. That way it won’t come as any shock when the rubberstamp Duma eventually approves a constitutional amendment like this.

On an opposite note, Andy Young is looking at jailed Yukos boss Khodorkovsky’s possible bid to run for a seat in the Duma. In sum, although Khodorkovsky is in jail, his appeal has not yet been decided on, which may allow him to run. This could bring about an interesting legal battle, especially if he should win (and it is predicted he would be able to), because Duma legislators are given immunity from prosecution. Andy also notes that he was moved into much harsher prison conditions as this news has broken. Be sure to read his entire post.