Vladimir Putin to run for President in 2024: ‘I will not hide…’

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been governing the nation since the turn of the century has said that he will run for the post in the 2024 polls. Vladimir Putin was shown by state media saying he would run for a new six-year presidential term in 2024.

Putin was answering a question on the subject from Artyom Zhoga, a military officer. "I will not hide that I have had different thoughts at different times but it is now time to make a decision," Putin told Zhoga and other decorated soldiers, reported Reuters. 

"I will run for the post of president," Putin was shown in television footage saying in the gilded Georgievsky Hall, part of the Grand Kremlin Palace.

The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent.

The announcement came at a set-piece Kremlin event for army personnel, including some who fought in the offensive in Ukraine that Putin ordered in February last year.

"I will run for the office of president of the Russian Federation."

Vladimir Putin was speaking to Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga, a Russian military officer, who had moments before urged him to run.

"Thanks to your actions, your decisions, we have gained freedom," Zhoga said, adding: "We need you, Russia needs you."

Vladimir Putin will not face any major challengers in his bid for a sixth term and will likely seek as big a mandate as possible in order to conceal domestic discord over the Ukraine conflict, analysts say.

Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, Vladmir Putin could stay in power until at least 2036.

Rights groups say that previous elections have been marred by irregularities and that independent observers will likely be barred from monitoring the vote.

Putin also tightened media rules on covering the 2024 election in November, banning some independent media outlets from accessing polling stations.

The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15-17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult.

Five major parties have been allowed to submit a candidate for the 2024 vote without collecting signatures, all of which support the Kremlin and the offensive in Ukraine.

(With agency inputs)