OREANDA-NEWS. According to Bloomberg, amendments to the Russian Constitution were initiated by President Vladimir Putin due to the failure of his plans to create a Union State with Belarus.

The publication notes that now the Russian leader is embarking on the implementation of the Plan B. The former Kremlin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky told that Putin sees himself as a world leader, and it is very hard to disassociate himself from the role of the president.

To keep power, Putin first tried to negotiate with Minsk. An agreement with Belarus would allow him to circumvent the limitations of the presidential terms, and he could become the head of the new Union State. However, negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ended without success, and Putin began implementing the backup plan: to amend the Constitution, strengthen the role of the State Council and become its head.