Putin to announce he's running for president again at exhibition of his achievements in November

In November 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin may announce his intention to run for a new presidential term in 2024. This will happen during the "exhibition of his achievements", while the Kremlin is already forming a list of confidants.

Source: Kremlin-aligned media Kommersant and RBC

Details: The media’s sources say that the start of the "informal presidential campaign" is scheduled for November and is timed to coincide with the opening of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum.

Putin may announce his candidature on this platform.

The media say that there are other options, and only Putin himself will make the final decision. At the same time, it is not exactly specified what "options" are in question.

The exhibition, at which the 70-year-old dictator plans to announce his decision, will run from 4 November to 12 April, that is, during the entire presidential campaign.

It is held "to demonstrate the most important achievements of the Russian Federation in various sectors of the economy" and "the positive experience of the development of subjects of the Russian Federation", Putin's decree states.

"In fact, this is an achievement of Vladimir Putin," another media source explained the exhibition's meaning.

The media sources described the presidential campaign as follows: "Russia is a separate civilisation", "a family of families", for which traditional values are important, is being attacked by the enemies, but thanks to the consolidation of society, they will not achieve anything.

These are the theses that the Kremlin and Putin personally regularly use to justify the war against Ukraine.

The law foresees that the 2024 presidential elections must be scheduled from 8 to 18 December 2023.

Apart from that, the Kremlin has begun to compile a list of confidants for the presidential elections. Among the selection criteria are the support of the so-called Special Military Operation [the term war is prohibited in Russia – ed.], the popularity and the ability to learn.

Reportedly, the Putin administration asked the regions to compile such lists, and last week, the authorities of the Russian regions already sent their proposals to Moscow.

Two media sources say that the main task of the trustee is to "increase the level of support for the candidate and, in no case, prevent it from decreasing".

People on the lists had to meet several criteria, including publicly supporting the president and the so-called Special Military Operation, that is, the war against Ukraine. They also had to be well known.

The confidants must also represent various spheres of public life, be ready to participate in an election campaign and "bear temporary expenses", have public speaking skills, experience participating in debates and be "educated".

The Kremlin told the regional authorities that the candidates for proxies will be trained in public speaking skills and "the basic meaning of the election campaign and the values that the candidate defends." According to sources, the training will be held in October-December.

Putin had at least 476 proxies in the 2018 election. Among them were athletes, TV presenters, actors, singer Larisa Dolina, rapper Timati, etc.

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