One of Russia’s most senior politicians called yesterday for changes to the constitution to allow Vladimir Putin to run for a third term as President.

Less than a year before the presidential election, Sergei Mironov demanded the abolition of the two-term limit that prevents Mr Putin from standing. He also proposed extending the term from four years to five or even seven. Mr Mironov spoke out after senators reelected him by 156-0 as Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, after regional elections.

He described Mr Putin as a guarantee of stability, and said that he was voicing the demand of millions of voters. Mr Mironov urged provincial legislatures to consider the proposal over the next two months.

Such a change “should be debated in light of the possibility, and maybe also the need, for Vladimir Putin to have the legal and constitutional possibility to remain President for one more term”, he said. “The final decision, of course, will be up to Vladimir Putin. Maybe he will listen to the voice of the lawmakers.”

With approval ratings close to 80 per cent, Mr Putin would easily win the election on March 2 next year. He has insisted repeatedly that he would not change the constitution to allow himself a third term, yet has left open the prospect of responding to public demand to stay on. He said on television in the autumn that “although I like my job, the constitution gives me no right to run for a third term”.

The Kremlin repeated this position after Mr Mironov’s remarks. Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman, told The Times: “We respect his point of view but the President’s position remains unchanged. He thinks that there is no need and no possibility of changing the constitution.”

Mr Mironov, however, told state TV: “I receive hundreds of thousands of letters from our people, from public organisations, from veterans, from servicemen, who all ask and even demand that this issue be raised.

“The best candidate for sustaining Vladimir Putin’s course is Vladimir Putin himself . . . Russia is a completely different country than it was in 1999. However, this is just the beginning. We have been living in a stable society for just two years, and as a Russian citizen I would like to have guarantees that this will go on.”

Political rivals rejected Mr Mironov’s proposal. Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that his United Russia party would “stand in defence of the constitution”, which had been unchanged since its adoption in 1993.

United Russia controls two thirds of seats in the Duma but faces a challenge in elections in December from Mr Mironov’s A Just Russia party, which was created with Kremlin backing last October. Both support Mr Putin’s policies.

Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party, accused the “political leadership” of using Mr Mironov to plant the idea as a way of testing public opinion. Mr Mironov insisted that it was his initiative.

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, who is leading an opposition campaign against Mr Putin, said that the proposals reflected the “hysterical weeping” of the President’s advisers about the coming election. “They understand that Putin will not stay on, but they don’t know what to do next,” he told reporters.

Chris Weafer, chief strategist with Alfa Bank in Moscow, said that share prices in Russia barely moved, suggesting that investors had not taken Mr Mironov’s comments seriously.

Times Recommends

• Plan for 9/11 trial in New York divides the city
• Beijing gets the jitters as Obama flies in
• Potshot Palin settles scores