Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin’s former deputy chief of staff and current chairman of the state Duma, would support a law that protects the honor and dignity of the Russian president.
During a speech at a university in Tatarstan, Volodin said the laws were necessary and that other country's had already implemented similar regulations.
“The entire international experience shows that these laws are not only necessary but they already exist everywhere,” he said.
The chairman of the Duma cited an example in the United States where, according to Volodin, four people were imprisoned for offending Barack Obama back in 2015.
After being elected, he said, the Russian president is in charge of the “institute of presidency.” “All the institutions are protected, but it just so happens that in Russia this law is not regulated,” he told the students.
He concluded that the presidency, “should be protected.”
The president's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin currently has no plans for a law but that the “international experience” should be examined.
Vyacheslav Volodin has called for Putin’s position to be protected by law in the past. In October 2015, he said that Putin is the essence of the Russian state: “When there’s Putin, there’s Russia - when there’s no Putin, there’s no Russia.”
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