Old autocrats rarely resign, nor do they just fade away. So when Vladimir Putin slipped proposals for a few changes to the Russian Constitution into his annual state-of-the-nation talkathon last Wednesday, followed immediately by the resignation of the entire government, the presumption was that the president, who is 67, was laying the groundwork to extend his 20-year reign past the expiration of his current term in 2024.

What he proposed, however, was nothing so simple as changing the two-consecutive-terms limit set by the Russian Constitution. Mr. Putin doesn’t like to tamper with the existing order, which is fully under his control, and the last time he pulled a fast one to prolong his stay in power — the infamous office swap with Dmitri Medvedev — Russians took to the streets in indignation.

So this time, mused the Kremlinologists, the president was starting his machinations four years in advance and keeping them sufficiently confusing to blunt resistance, head off an incipient succession struggle and keep everyone off balance.

What he proposed was: to give the lower house of Parliament more power to pick cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, all of whom are currently proposed by the president and rubber-stamped by the legislature; to bar a president from serving more than two terms over all (it’s currently two consecutive terms); and to give some teeth to the currently toothless State Council.