Putin set for six more years as president after saying he will run in 2018
VLADIMIR PUTIN has announced that he will run for re-election as president of Russia in March next year.
After months of public speculation, Mr Putin made the announcement while speaking to workers at the 85th anniversary of the Gorky automobile plant (GAZ) in Nizhny Novgorod, a Soviet-era powerhouse that has been revived through orders from Western carmakers.
Mr Putin is almost certain to win another six-year term. By the end of it, he will have been in power for more than 24 years, including a stint as prime minister, allowing him to skirt the limit of two consecutive presidential terms.
Earlier yesterday, a participant at a volunteer conference appeared to disrupt the careful stage management that has surrounded Mr Putin’s announcement by asking him in front of an audience whether he would run. The president would only reply that the “decision should be made very soon”.
“Today at the volunteer forum, you were asked whether you would put your candidacy forward, and you said you would if the people support you. All of us in this hall support you without exception,” a GAZ employee told Mr Putin to the applause of his co-workers.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich, give us a present, announce your decision. Because GAZ is for you! GAZ is for you!”
“There is probably no better place and reason for this,” Mr Putin said. “Thank you for your support, I will put my candidacy forward for the presidency of the Russian Federation.”
The ruling United Russia party within minutes announced it would back Mr Putin. Mr Putin, 65, has long been expected to run and is almost certain to win given his approval ratings, which have remained above 80 per cent since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Hungarian prosecutors have filed charges against a member of the European Parliament from the radical nationalist Jobbik party, in a probe into alleged spying for Russia. Bela Kovacs, 57, a frequent visitor to Moscow, has reportedly been suspected by prosecutors of regularly meeting covertly with Russian diplomats.