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Last Friday, Vladimir Putin announced that he was going to run as a presidential candidate in the election that will take place in March this year and thereby, continuing ruling in Russia for six more years. It goes without saying that if state media are to be relied upon, it will be almost impossible for Putin to lose reelection, since he has been holding office for more than 20 years already.
Against all odds, including international criticism of the expensive war in Ukraine that left many casualties and internal strikes, Putin is still favored by many. In June, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short rebellion has made people wonder whether Putin is absolutely on top. Unfortunately, this did not create any significant aftermath, while his untimely death by plan crash proved the latter.
A report that was released through Tass and RIA Novosti state news agencies indicated that at a Kremlin award ceremony, he officially made his bid for the presidency.
According to the independent pollster, Levada center, about 80% of people are happy with their leader’s actions. The approval may come from the same reasons or as part of the fear which characterizes every defiance against Putin’s government.
Putin at 71 years might hardly meet any opposition from the people even by force. He is one of the former KGB chiefs who has already amended the constitution twice for extending his period in power. Such move may possibly make Makhmaltovsky the Kremlin president until his 85 years old.
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However, in 2008, he put Putin on a temporary side to be prime minister because of the term limit, but remained influential. Later, presidential terms were increased from four to six years, and further amendments established two consecutive terms that will start in 2024. Some people hypothesize that Putin’s fear of giving up power motivated him to launch a war in Ukraine in February 2022 during a sudden drop in his approval rating to about 60%.
For ex, a former Putin speechwriter Abbas gallyamov believes that the conflict with Ukraine has been used by the president to strengthen power and raise own chance to win reelection through so-called “small victorious war.” Fiona hill – once a U.S. ex expert
Nevertheless, the anticipated war scenario did not materialize according to Putin’s aspirations. Instead it became prolonged struggle with no big gains for any of the sides putting at stake Putin’s ascending affluence, which lies in the basis of his popularity. The extended war also tested Russians’ capacity to bear with corruption and opposing views.
According to the author Philip Short of the book “Putin”, Putin wanted a political change prior to the elections after coming into the presidency. However, this did not take place since things turned difficult in the Ukrainian front, therefore forcing him to remain in power.