Russian and East European studies was one of my two majors at the University of Pennsylvania. Graduating with honors, I studied many aspects of Russia, including its history, culture, and politics. I learned the Russian language. I lived in Moscow in 2018. I also studied the Russian constitution. While it is a little-known fact, or at least little discussed, that the Russian Federation has a constitution, it is even lesser known that there are guidelines for a president’s impeachment. Yes, Russian President Vladimir Putin could, theoretically, be impeached.

While still often stereotyped as a communist, authoritarian dictatorship, in reality, at least on paper, Russia is a federal semi-presidential constitutional republic. As such, the country is beholden to the laws stipulated in its constitution (a constitution that the United States and many Western “experts” had a role in drafting in 1993). And Chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation discusses the role, powers, and limitations of the President of the Russian Federation — including impeachment.