Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to soon indicate that he will participate in the 2024 presidential election, as reported by the Kommersant newspaper on Tuesday (10/3/2023). If this happens, it would pave the way for the Kremlin leader to remain in power until 2030.
As part of a conference in November, officials speculate that Putin will announce his candidacy for the presidential election next March, as reported by Kommersant media, citing unnamed sources close to the presidential administration.
The respected Russian newspaper stated that there are other scenarios for what Putin might do at the conference, and the final decision rests with Putin himself. When confirmed, the Kremlin did not immediately comment.
Putin, who assumed the presidency from Boris Yeltsin on the last day of his leadership in 1999, has become the longest-serving leader in Russia since Josef Stalin. Putin has even surpassed Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure by 18 years.
As a presidential candidate, Putin will be 71 years old on October 7. While many diplomats, spies, and officials have speculated that Putin may remain in power for life, there has been no confirmation of his plans to run in the 2024 presidential election.
Last month, Putin stated that he would make an announcement about his plans only after parliament holds the presidential election, which, according to the law, must take place in December. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated last month that if Putin decides to run, there would be no one to compete against him.
Although Putin may not face competition for votes, the former KGB spy faces the most serious challenges the Kremlin leader has encountered since Mikhail Gorbachev grappled with the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly four decades ago.
The war in Ukraine has triggered the largest confrontation with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the biggest external shock to the Russian economy in decades. Putin faced a failed uprising by Russia’s most powerful mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin in June.
Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months later. The West views Putin as a war criminal and dictator who has embroiled Russia in an imperial-style conflict that weakened the country and forged Ukrainian nationhood while uniting the West and giving NATO a post-Soviet mission to counter Russia.
However, Putin portrays this war as part of a much larger struggle with the United States, which, according to Kremlin elites, aims to divide Russia, seize its natural resources, and then turn to resolve issues with China.
Former Soviet spy holding power in Moscow has repeatedly warned of the risk of a Russia-NATO conflict as Western dominance wanes post-Cold War, Russia begins to forget the humiliation of the Soviet collapse, and China rises as a great power.
The West says it does not want a NATO-Russia conflict but only to help Ukraine defeat Russian forces. The Kremlin says the West will never achieve Russia’s defeat in Ukraine.
