Vladimir Putin has declared that he intends to seek re-election for another six-year term as Russian president.
Putin, 65, has been in power, either as president or prime minister, since 2000. If, as expected, he contests and wins what would be a fourth presidential term in March, he would be eligible to serve another six years until 2024.
Contest opinion polls show he will comfortably win the election, setting the stage for him to extend his dominance of Russia’s political landscape into a third decade.
Vladimir Putin has declared that he intends to seek re-election as Russian president
‘I will put forward my candidacy for the post of president of the Russian Federation,’ Putin told an audience of workers at a car-making factory in the Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod.
Putin served two presidential terms in 2000-2008, then shifted into the prime minister’s seat because of term limits, but continued calling the shots while his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, served as placeholder president.
Medvedev had the presidential term extended to six years and then stepped down to let Putin reclaim the presidency in 2012.
Putin’s approval ratings that top 80 per cent make him certain to win an easy first round victory.
Putin served two presidential terms in 2000-2008, then shifted into the prime minister’s seat because of term limits, but continued calling the shots while his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, served as placeholder president
The veterans of past campaigns – Communist chief Gennady Zyuganov, ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and liberal leader Grigory Yavlinsky – all have declared their intention to run.
They will likely be joined by Ksenia Sobchak, a star TV host who is the daughter of late former St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, who was Putin’s boss in the 1990s.
The most visible Putin foe, Alexei Navalny, also wants to run, even though a conviction he calls politically motivated bars him from joining the campaign.
He has organized a grassroots campaign and staged rallies across Russia to raise pressure on the Kremlin to let him register for the race.