Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today, during a conversation with soldiers who fought in Ukraine, that he will run in the scheduled presidential elections in 2024, a move expected to keep him in power until at least 2030. After honoring soldiers who fought in Ukraine by awarding them the country's highest military decoration, the Golden Star Medal of Heroes of Russia, a lieutenant colonel named Artyom Chuga asked the president if he would be a candidate in the presidential elections. Chuga told reporters after the event, "He will run."
Putin made this statement in the gilded Cathedral of Georgievsky, part of the Grand Kremlin Palace. For Putin, 71, elections are considered a formality, and with state support, government media, and the near absence of any popular opposition, his victory is deemed certain. Opponents view the elections as a formal attempt to embellish what they see as a corrupt dictatorial regime led by Putin. Putin's supporters reject this view, pointing to independent polls showing that he enjoys approval ratings above 80 percent, and they claim that Putin has restored order and some of the influence that Russia lost during the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Although Putin may not face genuine competition in the elections, he is facing the most serious set of challenges any Kremlin leader has encountered since Mikhail Gorbachev grappled with the crumbling Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
