Russia’s Putin confirms he will run for 2024 presidential election
Russian leader Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday that he would run in presidential elections scheduled for March, saying there was “no other way” but for him to contest the vote.
“I’ve had different thoughts at different times, but this is a time when a decision has to be made,” Putin said after an awards ceremony for army personnel at the Kremlin. “I will run for the office of president of the Russian Federation.”
Putin, who was handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has already served as president for longer than any other ruler of Russia since Josef Stalin, beating even Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year tenure.
For Putin, the election is a formality: with the support of the state, state media and almost no mainstream public dissent, he is certain to win. Putin turned 71 on October 7.
Opposition politicians cast the election as a fig leaf of democracy that adorns what they see as the corrupt dictatorship of Putin’s Russia.
Supporters of Putin dismiss that analysis, pointing to independent polling which shows he enjoys approval ratings of above 80 percent. They say that Putin has restored order and some of the clout Russia lost during the chaos of the Soviet collapse.