Hardly a week has passed since Vladimir Putin used a state of the nation address to announce a radical constitutional shake-up. 
In just seven working days, government has not only acted upon the presidential suggestions, but scribbled them up, submitted them to a constitutional committee, and put them before Russias parliament. 
On Thursday morning, the changes were accepted by the Duma in first reading, in traditionally combative style 432 to none, with zero abstentions.
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At first, the proposed constitutional changes appeared to be a thinly disguised attempt by Vladimir Putin to hold on to power after his term limit expires in 2024. But developments since then have complicated such an easy interpretation. 
The Kremlins haste in drafting and passing the changes a full four years before Mr Putins term is up in particular have dumfounded experts. Those who have worked with the Russian president say such speed is out of keeping; Mr Putin has traditionally preferred to keep decisions until the last moment.
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20 years of Putin
1/21 1999
Russian President Boris Yeltsin (R) poses with the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Alexei II (L) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (C) at the Kremlin in Moscow 31 December 1999. Yeltsin announced 31 December 1999 that he was resigning immediately and that Putin, according to the Russian constitution, would run the country as acting president until presidential elections in March 2000.
2/21 2000
Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with his wife Lyudmila in front of the Taj Mahal 04 October 2000. Putin is on a three-day visit to India.
3/21 2001
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and US President George W. Bush (R) smile following press conference at Crawford High School in Crawford, Texas 15 November 2001. Presidents Putin and Bush spoke about their meeting at the Bush ranch at a press conference at Crawford High School.
4/21 2002
British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) discuss as they walk in the residence of Zavidovo , in the Tver region, some 120 km north-west of Moscow, as Cherie Blair (C) and Lyudmila Putina (not pictured) follow them 11 October 2002. Tony Blair arrived in Russia for two days of face-to-face talks with President Vladimir Putin on fresh UN action to force Iraq to give up weapons of mass destruction.
5/21 2003
Russian President Vladimir Putin is accompanied by Her Majesty The Queen during a procession at The Mallat during the start iof his state visit on June 24, 2003 in London, England. Putin is on a 4 days visit in Great Britain and will attend a number of functions during his time in the country. The visit is the first by a Russian President since 1843.
6/21 2004
President Vladimir Putin pets his dog Conny before one of his meetings with officials in his office in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, 03 March 2004. Putin met Wednesday with his nominee for prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, and expressed hope that the government and parliament would work closely in the future. At left is a bodyguard.
7/21 2005
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during the recording of his annual televised New Year’s message at the Kremlin, with the Spassky Tower in the background, in Moscow, recorded early, 29 December 2005.
8/21 2006
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff’s Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday.
9/21 2007
Russian President Vladimir Putin fishing on the Khemchik River near the foothills of the Western Sayan Mountains in the Republic of Tuva. Time magazine named President Vladimir Putin its “person of the year” 19 December 2007 in recognition of the Russian leader’s role in making Moscow “a critical linchpin of the 21st century. The award, which is not considered an honor so much as a recognition of the most powerful forces shaping the world, was awarded for Putin’s role in reshaping a country that Time’s Managing Editor Richard Stengel said had “fallen off our mental map.”
10/21 2008
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) stands next to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi during the signing of agreements between the two countries April 17, 2008 in Tripoli, Libya. Putin is in Libya for a two-day official visit to rebuild Russian-Libyan relations.
11/21 2009
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia
12/21 2010
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg
13/21 2011
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) rides a motorbike as he takes part in the 16th annual motorbike festival held by “The Night Wolves” youth organization in the southern Russian town of Novorossiysk
14/21 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the “Flight of Hope”, which aims to preserve a rare species of – cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights – the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds.
15/21 2013
Russin President Vladimir Putin as he plays with his dogs ‘Buffy’ (up) and ‘Yume’ at his residence Novo-Ogariovo, outside Moscow. Bulgarian shepherd dog ‘Buffy’ was presented to Putin by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov while Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda offered Putin the puppy ‘Yume’ as a gift during the G20 in Mexico in June.
16/21 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits USA House in the Olympic Village
17/21 2015
Russias President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi
18/21 2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016 in Beijing, China. Russian President Vladimir Putin is in China to discuss more economic and military cooperation between the two countries.
19/21 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia.
20/21 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in his office in Saint Petersburg on December 15, 2018 with Artyom Palyanov — a boy with brittle bone disease who wished to see a bird’s eye view of the city. – Earlier the President promised to make his dream come true by sending him on a helicopter tour of the city.
21/21
Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, meets Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, during a bilateral meeting on the first day of the G20 summit on June 28, 2019 in Osaka, Japan. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Osaka on Thursday for the annual Group of 20 gathering together with other world leaders who will use the two-day summit to discuss pressing economic, climate change, as well as geopolitical issues. The US-China trade war is expected to dominate the meetings in Osaka as President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Saturday in an attempt to resolve the ongoing the trade clashes between the world’s two largest economies.
1/21 1999
Russian President Boris Yeltsin (R) poses with the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Alexei II (L) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (C) at the Kremlin in Moscow 31 December 1999. Yeltsin announced 31 December 1999 that he was resigning immediately and that Putin, according to the Russian constitution, would run the country as acting president until presidential elections in March 2000.
2/21 2000
Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with his wife Lyudmila in front of the Taj Mahal 04 October 2000. Putin is on a three-day visit to India.
3/21 2001
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and US President George W. Bush (R) smile following press conference at Crawford High School in Crawford, Texas 15 November 2001. Presidents Putin and Bush spoke about their meeting at the Bush ranch at a press conference at Crawford High School.
4/21 2002
British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) discuss as they walk in the residence of Zavidovo , in the Tver region, some 120 km north-west of Moscow, as Cherie Blair (C) and Lyudmila Putina (not pictured) follow them 11 October 2002. Tony Blair arrived in Russia for two days of face-to-face talks with President Vladimir Putin on fresh UN action to force Iraq to give up weapons of mass destruction.
5/21 2003
Russian President Vladimir Putin is accompanied by Her Majesty The Queen during a procession at The Mallat during the start iof his state visit on June 24, 2003 in London, England. Putin is on a 4 days visit in Great Britain and will attend a number of functions during his time in the country. The visit is the first by a Russian President since 1843.
6/21 2004
President Vladimir Putin pets his dog Conny before one of his meetings with officials in his office in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, 03 March 2004. Putin met Wednesday with his nominee for prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, and expressed hope that the government and parliament would work closely in the future. At left is a bodyguard.
7/21 2005
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during the recording of his annual televised New Year’s message at the Kremlin, with the Spassky Tower in the background, in Moscow, recorded early, 29 December 2005.
8/21 2006
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff’s Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday.
9/21 2007
Russian President Vladimir Putin fishing on the Khemchik River near the foothills of the Western Sayan Mountains in the Republic of Tuva. Time magazine named President Vladimir Putin its “person of the year” 19 December 2007 in recognition of the Russian leader’s role in making Moscow “a critical linchpin of the 21st century. The award, which is not considered an honor so much as a recognition of the most powerful forces shaping the world, was awarded for Putin’s role in reshaping a country that Time’s Managing Editor Richard Stengel said had “fallen off our mental map.”
10/21 2008
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) stands next to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi during the signing of agreements between the two countries April 17, 2008 in Tripoli, Libya. Putin is in Libya for a two-day official visit to rebuild Russian-Libyan relations.
11/21 2009
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia
12/21 2010
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg
13/21 2011
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) rides a motorbike as he takes part in the 16th annual motorbike festival held by “The Night Wolves” youth organization in the southern Russian town of Novorossiysk
14/21 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the “Flight of Hope”, which aims to preserve a rare species of – cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights – the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds.
15/21 2013
Russin President Vladimir Putin as he plays with his dogs ‘Buffy’ (up) and ‘Yume’ at his residence Novo-Ogariovo, outside Moscow. Bulgarian shepherd dog ‘Buffy’ was presented to Putin by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov while Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda offered Putin the puppy ‘Yume’ as a gift during the G20 in Mexico in June.
16/21 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits USA House in the Olympic Village
17/21 2015
Russias President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi
18/21 2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016 in Beijing, China. Russian President Vladimir Putin is in China to discuss more economic and military cooperation between the two countries.
19/21 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia.
20/21 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in his office in Saint Petersburg on December 15, 2018 with Artyom Palyanov — a boy with brittle bone disease who wished to see a bird’s eye view of the city. – Earlier the President promised to make his dream come true by sending him on a helicopter tour of the city.
21/21
Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, meets Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, during a bilateral meeting on the first day of the G20 summit on June 28, 2019 in Osaka, Japan. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Osaka on Thursday for the annual Group of 20 gathering together with other world leaders who will use the two-day summit to discuss pressing economic, climate change, as well as geopolitical issues. The US-China trade war is expected to dominate the meetings in Osaka as President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Saturday in an attempt to resolve the ongoing the trade clashes between the world’s two largest economies.
The eventual wording of the amendments also brought surprises. In particular, they offered no obvious constitutional short circuit for Mr Putin to exercise formal power outside the presidency. Far from weakening the powers of a successor in favour of parliament or some new body, the changes actually strengthen the role. Any future president will be able to fire constitutional judges, and will also get an extra veto to block parliamentary votes. 
So what exactly are Mr Putins intentions? And if we assume that he is leaving the presidency, where does he want to end up? 
The honest answer is nobody knows. The Russian president has kept his cards close to his chest, and is unlikely to reveal them for some time.  
For the time being, his most likely post-2024 destination is as head of a beefed-up State Council. At his state of the nation address, Mr Putin suggested strengthening the federal body, which up till now wielded only limited power. Many experts surmised that meant it could grow into a board the likes of the old Politburo, with a broad purview covering most policy areas. 
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The constitutional amendment passed on Thursday fell roughly in line with such expectations. The State Councils role was determined as follows: Ensuring proper functioning and interaction between state bodies, and determining the main directions of domestic, foreign and socio-economic policy. The exact scope of its powers will become clear in a separate law yet to be published. 
But whatever powers the State Council will eventually receive, it has already been made clear that it will remain remain formally subordinate to the president. The president has also appeared to rule out the idea of him carving out a supervisory role above the president. Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Putin said he did not intend to stay on and mentor in the way Sinagapores long-time leader Lee Kuan Yew did in the 1990s. 
In different countries there are different situations, different histories, different cultures, he said. In Russia, if you put an institution above the president, it would mean dual power a fatal situation for a country like ours. 
All of which brings us to a more logical inference of Mr Putins constitutional rewrite: That he may, in fact, be paving the way for a genuine successor in 2024. Viewed from this perspective, the complicated constitutional trickery certainly makes much more sense. The changes look to be geared less towards ensuring the continuation of Putin as they are of guaranteeing the survival of Putinism and its ideologies. 
Russian lawmakers voted unanimously for constitutional amendments (AP)
The changes do not limit presidential prerogative in any real way and do not offer an obvious way for Putin to stay on, says Tatyana Stanovaya, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Centre. What they do is strengthen the authority of the centre, as well as creating a transitory period in which Putin can observe a chosen successor from afar.
Wherever he ends up in 2024, Mr Putin will retain hold of three important levers of informal power, the expert says. He will remain the most popular politician in the land. He will be able to exercise power via United Russia, the ruling party he set up (and is likely to head). An he can act via the hundreds of people he appointed to high office. In today’s Russia, such levers count for an awful lot. 
It should be enough for him to remove a successor and try another one if he thinks it is necessary, Stanovaya says. 
Social media has been awash with possible theories as to why the president is acting in such a rush. Is he ill? Is he spooked by falling popularity? Is he acting on the advice of psychic who advised him it was now or never? Or, more bizarrely: Is there a lady, a Meghan Markle type, dragging him from the limelight? 
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Political analyst Konstantin Kosachev suggested that Mr Putins haste was most likely provoked by a combination of factors. 
We obviously cannot discount the idea that Mr Putin has a diagnosis of some kind, one that may not have a clear expiry date, the analyst says. At the same time, hes already made it clear that he does not want to go down in history as a bumbling old Brezhnev-type figure. He understands its better to arrange these things while there is time and opportunity to do so. 
The Russian president seems to be using the moment to ensure that a successor doesnt change course. 
“All the amendments are about extending the life of Putinism. The central idea of national independence. Exclusion of external influence. The continuation of statism and conservative ideology, Kosachev says.  
“The one thing Putin doesnt want is a repeat of what he did to Yeltsin which was to rip up an entire legacy.