Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to run in next year's presidential election, Reuters reported Monday, citing six anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
In power since 2000, Putin is widely expected to run for a fifth term as president in the 2024 election, a move made possible by constitutional changes that allow him to remain in office until 2036.
“The decision has been made — he will run,” one source told Reuters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who has regularly claimed that Putin would face “no competition” were he to run in 2024, told journalists on Monday that “no such statements about [Putin's re-election bid] have been made, the campaign has not yet officially been announced.”
As Moscow faces increased pressure from its protracted war in Ukraine and Western sanctions, “major change [in political leadership] would not be expedient,” one of Reuter's sources said, adding that “Russia is facing the combined might of the West.”
“The world we look out upon is very dangerous,” said another source, who like the others was granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of Kremlin politics.
An anonymous foreign diplomatic source said Putin’s announcement would come “soon.”
The Russian president has said he would announce his plans to run for a fifth term in office after the country's parliament formally called the presidential election in December.
Putin traditionally keeps his plans to run for election under tight wraps until the very last minute.
But the Russian leader is effectively already campaigning, as he holds increasingly more public events and meets ordinary Russians face-to-face during his trips across the country, sources have told The Moscow Times.
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