Putin made a surprise visit to Russia’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday after lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova, a member of Putin’s ruling United Russia party and a former cosmonaut who was the first woman in space, proposed either lifting presidential term limits or allowing the current head of state to run again. Putin said he did not want to return to the authoritarianism of the country’s Soviet past, but deferred on the second initiative to the country’s Constitutional Court.

“During the time of the Soviet Union, there were no elections. Everything was decided privately either through internal party procedures or interests,” Putin told lawmakers, emphasizing that, today, “we need to go to the polls.”

He then noted that “strictly speaking, it would be possible to abolish term limits, especially since in many other countries, including our neighbors, this practice exists” but the practice was ultimately found to be “inappropriate.” He was, however, open to Tereshkova’s second proposal, which, he said, “essentially means removing the restriction for any person, citizen, including the incumbent president, and allowing future participation in elections, which will be open and competitive.”

The vote was set to reach the parliament on April 22, which happens to the 150th birthday of Russian Communist Party founder Vladimir Lenin.

Putin has a complicated history with Russia’s communist past. Before entering politics, he was a career KGB officer, serving in East Germany until its collapse in 1989. As the Soviet Union itself fell in 1991, Putin became an increasingly influential player in the new Russian government.

In August 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin prime minister and declared him his successor. That New Year’s Eve, at the turn of the 21st century, Yeltsin suddenly resigned and handed power to Putin, who won his first election the following year.

He won his second four-year term in 2004, the last permitted by Russia’s constitution, but remained in power for another four years as premier after his ally Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election. Medvedev’s administration extended the presidential term to six years, and Putin went on to win both the 2012 and 2018 elections, meaning his current term ends in 2024.

His 20 years as either president or prime minister are surpassed by Stalin’s nearly 30-year reign, but another presidential term could theoretically allow Putin to remain president until 2036, when he would be 84. Stalin died in office at 74, and while Putin has publicly said he is against holding office for life, opponents have argued this may be his objective.

The Russian president has often pointed out the shortcomings of the communist era but has also sought to capitalize on a resurgence in Stalin’s popularity among Russians. In particular, Putin has expressed great admiration for the Soviet Union’s front-line role during World War II, a narrative that has been featured prominently in Putin’s speeches.

Each May, Moscow holds a massive Victory Day military parade, and this year’s event was set to be particularly symbolic given the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

The Allied effort in World War II marked the height of ties between Washington and Moscow, which quickly devolved into decades of Cold War competition until the fall of the Soviet Union. Since assuming the presidency, Putin has overseen a resurgence in Russia’s military and political power that the U.S. has viewed as a threat.

Putin has boasted in recent months of presiding over the first time in history in which Russia has led in military technologies, He was referring specifically to the advanced, hypersonic and nuclear-capable weapons being deployed and developed by his defense industry. He has also vastly expanded Moscow’s influence abroad in regions like the Middle East and has established a close relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, whose Communist Party voted to abolish his term limits in March 2018.

Still, Putin faces protests led by activists and opposition figures critical of his administration’s policies. A poll published in late January by the independent Levada Center found that 27 percent of Russians, a plurality, want to see Putin as president after his term ends in 2024, among the 11 choices provided. A quarter preferred that he return to life as a private citizen, as government chairman or party leader, among other choices.

In addition to proposed changes to the presidential term limits, lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a number of constitutional amendments introduced during a January government shake-up that had Medvedev dismissed. Putin has pushed for an expansion of parliamentary powers, while maintaining that the president must remain “the guarantor of the security of our state, its internal stability and internal, evolutionary development.”