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From Our Own Correspondent: Putin, the presidency and power

Magazines & Reviews

15/02/2020 GMT

Putin, the presidency and power

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Putin, the presidency and power

Is President Putin having Russia's constitution rewritten to serve his own ends ?

Is Russia's constitution being rewritten to serve its President? Plus: Cape Verde's new cocaine scourge, the pioneering female plumbers of Jordan and Venezuela's two rival leaders

Russia is debating changes to its constitution - but while much of the public is happy to sign off on any plan proposed by President Vladimir Putin, some citizens despair when they look at the state of the country today. Steve Rosenberg travelled to the industrial town of Magnetogorsk to meet local people who still back their President to the hilt - but also finds signs of dissent at a demonstration in Yekaterinburg.

Cape Verde is a small nation - both in terms of its land area and its people - and a quiet sort of place, out in the Atlantic off the west African coast. Yet it's now battling an outsize drug problem. It turns out the islands' location, right on the drug-trafficking routes from South America to Europe, are leaving the country open not only to smugglers and transporters, but to a new epidemic of cocaine use and crack addiction. Colin Freeman heard some chilling stories of how fast and how far the drugs have spread through Cape Verde. 

In Jordan, many households struggle to keep the taps flowing - as the country is one of the most water-poor anywhere in the world. But there's a new breed of plumber at work there these days - the female kind  - and Charlie Faulkner's been to meet some of the women who have rolled up their sleeves to wrestle with the problems of supply and demand. Along the way, they've broken with stereotypes as well as fixed leaks.

And from London, there's an account of meeting with another President - but this one of a far more disputed status. Hugo Bachega recently went to a Venezuelan restaurant in the Bethnal Green area not for a meal, but for an evening with Juan Guaido, the figurehead of Venezuela's opposition, who for some is the country's legitimate leader. A year ago, against a backdrop of economic crisis and disputed polls in Caracas, Guaido declared himself the Venezuelan President, and was backed by many other countries. But Nicolas Maduro, still heading the PSUV government of Venezuela, has not been dislodged. What does it all mean for the country's future - and for Guaido?

(Image: Opposition supporter holds a copy of Russia's constitution during a rally in Moscow. Credit: Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva)

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