Vladimir Putin has confirmed that he will run in the Russian presidential election next year in a bid to extend his rule of more than two decades.
Friday 8 December 2023 14:17, UK
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Despite the predicatable nature of the development, news of Vladimir Putin’s decision to announce his presidential run has come to dominate today’s agenda.
His press secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked whether it was planned that the leader would announce he was running for another term of office at today’s at today’s ceremony honouring Heroes of the Fatherland Day.
The Kremlin spokesman said, “He was asked a [corresponding] question and he answered it… yes, it was an absolutely spontaneous decision.
“On the other hand, he responded to the request from these heroic people. So, it was his response to people’s requests.”
Our Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay has been discussing the news around Vladimir Putin’s candidacy in next year’s presidential election.
She says the carefully choreographed announcement was not unexpected – and “it will be no surprise when he wins”.
However, she says, among the key questions in the election would be the turnout and size of his majority.
Around 80% of the population is thought to support Mr Putin.
She adds: “This is not a fake majority, if you go around this country, large numbers of people do believe the Kremlin’s propaganda, they do believe Vladimir Putin is the only man who can lead Russia now and they will be voting for him in the election.”
European Union leaders are conscious of how “existential” financial aid is to Ukraine and will honour their commitments, a senior official said today.
Ahead of the year’s final summit of EU leaders in Brussels next week, Hungary has threatened to veto a proposal for the bloc to grant 50 billion euros (£42.9bn) in budget aid to Kyiv to 2027, and another one to start membership talks with Ukraine.
Failure to deliver on those promises would be seen as a major political blow in Ukraine.
With most of Ukraine’s revenue going to finance the war, the country relies heavily on economic assistance from the West to keep going.
“We know how existential it is. European leaders are responsible people – at least 26,” said the official who is involved in preparing the summit. “They will stick to their commitments.”
Should Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, veto a proposed review of the bloc’s long-term budget, the official listed possible workarounds.
The official said either the other 26 EU countries could agree to extend their national contributions bilaterally to Kyiv, a more complicated and expensive option than going through the bloc’s shared coffers.
Alternatively, a smaller amount to cover a shorter period could be allocated from the bloc’s budget as it stands, said the official, without the approval of the broader review.
As part of that review, the bloc’s executive has asked member countries to chip in some 60 billion euros in fresh funds to finance Ukraine, migration and other issues.
Our defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke has been responding to the news the Vladimir Putin has announced he will stand in next year’s presidential elections.
He says that, having fixed the constitution to allow him to run repeatedly for the post, the Russian leader is known in analytical circles as “Vladimir the indefinite”.
“He will just keep on running until he steps down or is removed or dies,” he says.
Of next year’s election, Clarke says: “They’ll put up a few joke candidates against him who will get paid and rewarded for running silly campaigns and getting a derisory vote.
“The real opposition is just literally imprisoned and hounded out of Russia and so on.”
However, he says, the vote next year is not without concerns for the Kremlin.
“What bothers them about these electoral processes is that the election process itself may actually bring other complaints to light, particularly about the war,” he says.
“I mean, next year the Russian budget is going to spend another 70% on defence. That means that defence will have increased by 300% since the invasion.
“And for the first time next year, Russians will feel for the first time since the Cold War, they’ll feel the effect of this war in health, education, social security.
“That’s all being reduced to pay for the fact that defence is now three times bigger than it was before. The whole economy is being turned into a war economy.
“So the election campaign… might throw up other things which the Kremlin might find more difficult to deal with.”
In a snow-covered field in western Poland, Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in trench warfare – just days before being sent to the frontlines of what has become a grinding war of attrition against Russia.
Reuters was among a number of media organisations invited this week to watch the training conducted by soldiers from Poland, France and Belgium, in Wedrzyn, near the German border.
“Most of the people have actually no military experience and they are taught how to execute some basic tactics,” said one Ukrainian soldier.
“We are taught how to use weapons in urban areas and in trenches.”
The training was conducted by the Combined Arms Training Command, which was established as part of the European Union’s efforts to aid Ukraine’s military. Exercises have been held in 24 out of the bloc’s 27 member states.
“We will keep adapting because the situation on the battlefield is changing every day,” said Lieutenant General Michiel van der Laan, director general European Union military staff.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, has said the war is moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, which could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power.
Operations could be further complicated by the weather as the bitter winter cold sets in.
“I would say that winter is the most demanding season when it comes to the war. It severely limits our movement and manoeuvrability while the enemy clearly sees us through heat cameras and drones,” said the Ukrainian soldier.
A second Ukrainian soldier said the training the troops were receiving in Poland would help them make progress in the counteroffensive.
“Fighting in the trenches is one of the most important elements in this war… I think that improving skills in this area will help our soldiers succeed on the battlefield,” he said.
Confirming reports detailed in our previous post, Vladimir Putin has confirmed he will run for president again in the 2024 election, in a move expected to keep him in power until at least 2030.
Having been handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has already served as president for longer than any other ruler of Russia since Josef Stalin, beating even Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year tenure.
And after awarding soldiers who had fought in Ukraine with Russia’s highest military honour, the hero of Russia gold star, Mr Putin was asked by a lieutenant colonel if he would run again, Russian news agencies said.
The Kremlin chief said he would.
The election will be a formality for Mr Putin, who turned 71 in October. With the support of the state, state media and almost no mainstream public dissent, he is considered certain to win.
Vladimir Putin is to seek another presidential term in Russia in a bid to extend his rule of more than two decades, state media is reporting.
As detailed here a little earlier, while he is almost universally expected to be re-elected in the elections on 17 March next year, the leader has not yet formally announced he will be a candidate.
We’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Regular readers of Sky News’ live coverage of the war in Ukraine will by now be familiar with the invariably extreme rhetoric of Putin ally and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
Now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, he has become infamous for his frequent dire threats towards NATO and the West, which tend to feature allusions to all-out global conflict and nuclear apocalypse.
While initially focusing on next year’s US presidential election, his latest comments are no exception.
The Biden administration faces “the prospect of impeachment (which will hardly take place) or an election defeat (which is very likely to happen). Hence [they have been resorting to] heavy-handed blackmail tactics, non-stop hysteria and [making] hare-brained insinuations directed at us,” Mr Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.
However, he went on to return to perhaps his favourite theme, saying: “Not since the Cuban Missile Crisis has the threat of a direct clash between Russia and NATO that could lead to a Third World War been so real”.
We learned yesterday that Russia’s presidential elections will take place on 17 March next year, with Vladimir Putin almost universally expected to be re-elected.
However, the president has not yet formally announced he will be a candidate – prompting comments this morning from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will announce it when he deems it necessary and expedient, it will be entirely his decision,” he said.
He added that “in his work Putin has always relied and continues to rely on the support of the people, pursuing the main goal: improving the welfare and living standards of our people.”
“And, of course, there is no doubt that direct communication with people works constantly for the president,” the spokesman said.
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