An opposition party says Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech this Thursday is a constitutional violation

The opposition political party Yabloko is calling on Vladimir Putin to change the format of his upcoming address to the Federal Assembly, which the Kremlin has confirmed will reveal the president’s re-election platform.

Yabloko says Putin’s plan to focus on future initiatives in his speech is a violation of the Russian Constitution and an abuse of his office during the presidential campaign. Unfortunately for Yabloko, the Central Election Commission has already said it doesn’t see any problem with Putin’s “new and improved” state of the nation format.

What’s different about this year’s speech?

For the past decade, the president has delivered this address in December, which makes sense, because it’s supposed to be a review of the past calendar year. The Kremlin delayed it this time, and Putin’s political opponents say he pushed it to within three weeks of Election Day to give himself a boost with voters. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has added to these worries by confirming that the address will essentially be a campaign speech and Russians’ first look at Putin’s re-election platform.

Want further proof that Putin’s team isn’t even trying to hide this? The speech is being moved from the Kremlin to the Moscow Manege, in order to accommodate a bigger crowd and incorporate some fancy big-screen monitors.