[15][16] Among notable changes were the right of the president to remove federal justices, to remove Supreme Justices following approval by the Federation Council, a right for the lower house of the Parliament to appoint the prime minister and the "supremacy of Russian law over international law".

[citation needed] Critics have accused him of plotting to stay in power for life, while supporters have lauded the inclusion of the amendment.

[vague] The amendments mention, for the first time in the constitution: marriage – defined as the union of a man and a woman, faith in God, as well as the State Council (which increases its role).

[19][additional citation(s) needed] On 20 January 2020, President Vladimir Putin submitted the draft amendments to the State Duma, expecting 14 articles to be changed in total:[4][22][23][24] The Constitution of the Russian Federation was accepted on the national vote on 12 December 1993 and consists of nine chapters.

[32] Putin noted that Russia's parliament is legally capable of changing the Constitution, but he argued that a national vote is necessary to make the amendments legitimate.

[34] On 20 January 2020, Putin submitted a bill on constitutional amendments to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament).

Конституция Российской Федерации вступает в силу со дня официального ее опубликования по результатам всенародного голосования.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation shall come into force from the moment of its official publication according to the results of a nationwide voting.

[38] Critics have accused Putin of orchestrating a "constitutional coup" and seeking to fast-track changes to the country's political system without going through proper procedures including a referendum.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, measures to prevent the spread of the disease were taken on the recommendation of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).

Within the framework of this plebiscite, no valid reason is needed for voting from home, and the PEC agrees with the voter on the preferred time.

They will be wearing personal protective equipment and also they will have to provide a voter with a kit with a mask, gloves, a pen and a sanitizer.

Only those users who have successfully passed the check and matching against the data in the State Automates System "Elections" will be allowed to vote.

[49] However, in order to demonstrate strong management skills, local authorities and state-funded organizations are using traditional tactics to increase voter participation and encouraging people to vote online and ahead-of-schedule.

[58] A number of Russian celebrities were among the supporters of a 'yes' vote, who were sharing posts and video clips on social media.

Among them are names such as Evgeni Plushenko and his wife Yana Rudkovskaya, TV hosts Olga Buzova and Kseniya Borodina, and singers Stas Mikhailov and Keti Topuria.

[60] Journalist Yury Dud voiced his opposition against the amendments, reminding the public that in 2008 the current president was against changing the Constitution as well.

According to RBK, shortly before this, a number of board members wrote a letter criticizing the upcoming vote.

The main reason is believed to be due to the strong disagreement by the residents of the subject of the federation to unite with Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Most importantly, the elections in the Nenets Autonomous Region were fair, transparent, without violations and in compliance with all sanitary standards.

CEC Chairman Ella Pamfilova explained that the cause of the error was the tiredness of the election commission members: "Well, elementary, as I was told, people were tired.

[69] Grigory Kablis, the former chairman of the party of the Progress Party in the Komi Republic, explained to the publication Seven by Seven that since the data of the final protocols are not entered manually, but using QR codes through the GAS Vybory system (starting in 2017 in the Komi Republic), then the operator error during data entry was excluded.

Kablis suggested that after receiving at 21:00 automatically the preliminary results, which he called "very different from the average for Russia", at about 21:05 all territorial election commissions in the Komi Republic were forbidden to enter data in the GAS Vybory.

[71] The United States said that it was "troubled by reports of Russian government efforts to manipulate the result of the recent votes on constitutional amendments.

"[12] On 19 November 2021, two members of the United States Congress introduced a resolution to end the country's recognition of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia if he remains in power after 2024.

[77] Golos, an independent Russian election watchdog, claimed that the electoral process was "rigged from the start" and "unfairly skewed by a noisy one-sided propaganda campaign.

"[18] The New York Times reported that employees at state-funded libraries in St. Petersburg complained that they had been ordered by their institutions to vote and on which day.

The controversial elements, such as the zeroing of Putin's previous terms and a weakening of judicial independence, saw almost no mention in official messaging or public discourse.