Opinion: Coronavirus derails Russia’s constitutional reform vote

Vladimir Putin has postponed the public vote on constitutional reform amid the coronavirus pandemic. Dr Ben Noble (UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies) explains what this means for Putin's presidency. Russia's nationwide vote on controversial constitutional reforms has been postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. No new date has been set for the vote, which had been scheduled for April 22. The vote is the last hurdle before this set of reforms - including a change allowing Vladimir Putin to stay in the presidency beyond  2024 - can come into force. The Russian press had already reported that the Kremlin had  decided  to postpone the vote. Putin confirmed this on March 25 and said the vote would be arranged for a later date.