3-10-2023 (MOSCOW) Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to provide hints regarding his potential participation in the 2024 presidential election during an upcoming conference in November, according to reports by the Kommersant newspaper. These hints could pave the way for Putin to extend his stay in power until at least 2030.
Unnamed sources close to the presidential administration were cited by the respected Russian newspaper, Kommersant. The report, however, also mentioned that there are alternative scenarios for Putin’s announcement at the conference, with the final decision resting with the Russian president himself. The Kremlin has not provided immediate comment on the matter.
Vladimir Putin, who assumed the presidency on the last day of 1999, has already served longer as president than any other Russian leader since Josef Stalin. He even surpassed Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year rule.
On October 7, Putin will celebrate his 71st birthday.
While many observers, including diplomats and officials, anticipate that Putin will remain in power indefinitely, there has been no official confirmation of his intentions to run in the 2024 presidential election.
Putin had previously stated that he would make an announcement regarding his plans only after the parliamentary decision to call the presidential election, which is required by law to be conducted in December.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, remarked last month that if Putin chose to run, there would be no contenders capable of competing with him.
Though Putin may not face significant competition in the electoral race, he confronts some of the most formidable challenges any Kremlin leader has encountered since Mikhail Gorbachev’s era, during the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union nearly four decades ago.
The conflict in Ukraine has led to the most significant standoff between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It also marked the most substantial external shock to the Russian economy in decades. Putin faced an attempted rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russia’s most influential mercenary, in June. However, Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash two months later.
In the eyes of the Western world, Putin is often portrayed as a war criminal and a dictator who has plunged Russia into an imperial-style conflict, weakening the nation while strengthening Ukrainian statehood. This situation has further unified Western countries and assigned NATO a post-Soviet mission of opposing Russia.
Conversely, Putin presents the conflict as part of a broader struggle with the United States, alleging that the United States aims to divide Russia, exploit its natural resources, and ultimately turn against China.
The former Soviet intelligence operatives who hold power in Moscow have repeatedly warned of the risk of a Russia-NATO conflict as the West’s post-Cold War dominance diminishes, Russia seeks to overcome the humiliations of the Soviet collapse, and China ascends to superpower status.
The West has clarified that it does not seek a NATO-Russia conflict but rather aims to support Ukraine in its battle against Russian forces. The Kremlin maintains that the West will not succeed in defeating Russia in Ukraine.
