Vladimir Putin has decided to run for the President again in the upcoming 2024 Russian elections, a move that will keep him in power till 2023, according to a report in The Telegraph. However, his office has not confirmed the news yet. The report is based on anonymous Kremlin sources, who added that a public announcement will be made "soon". Mr Putin, now 71, has been Russia's leader since 1999, when he was handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin. He has already served as President for longer than any other Russian ruler since Josef Stalin.
"The decision has been made - he will run," the outlet quoted a source, who was reported to have knowledge of the planning, as saying.
Elections are due in Russia in March 2024. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had said in September that if Mr Putin decides to run, no one would be able to compete with him.
According to Russian Constitution, the President is elected for a six-year term so Mr Putin will remain on the top post till 2030.
He had signed a law in 2021 that amended the constitution, limiting Russian citizens to two presidential terms. But the law does not count terms served till it entered into force allowing Mr Putin to contest the election two more times.
The Telegraph said Mr Putin wants to remain in power to steer Russia through its more tumultuous period in decades after it invaded Ukraine in February last year.
The 71-year-old leader's approval ratings inside Russia stand at 80 per cent.
Alexei Navalny, opposition politician and Mr Putin's foremost critic, is in jail. The 47-year-old is serving terms that will keep him in prison for decades unless he is freed early.
