Putin ‘definitely not ready’ to decide whether to run for president next year, says spokesman

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has admitted that the 70-year-old is “definitely not in a position” to decide whether to run for a new presidential term next year.

The Kremlin leader has been dogged by rumors of health problems, including cancer, and is embroiled in a brutal war in Ukraine that is not going according to plan.

Its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said today that the elections would take place despite the military conflict, despite the fact that they had been ‘challenged’.

But Putin, 70, has not indicated whether he will run.

‘So far, there are no pre-election or electoral moods: Putin has a lot to do. He is definitely not up to it now,” Peskov said.

Several elections are expected in Russia, including the presidential election, the first round of which should be in March 2024, in just over a year.

Peskov told Izvestia: ‘There is a decision that there will be elections.

‘Under the conditions of the SVO [Putin’s ‘special military operation’]The prospects for holding elections, both in September and for the presidential elections, were questioned.

‘But we heard on the message that these and other elections should take place. Which is an integral part of the development of our society and political system.’

Peskov added: ‘So far we have not heard from him any statement in which he would talk about nominating or not nominating his candidacy.

‘That is, it is still a bit premature. We just have to be patient.

Peskov did not elaborate on what he meant by saying that Putin was “not up to the task now.”

If he runs, it would be his fifth term as president. Additionally, he was interim president for several months in early 2000.

His critics may hope that Putin will use the election to resign amid concerns about his state of mind as he continues the cruel war in Ukraine.

Supporters hope he can find a loyal successor to continue his repressive rule, but there is no clear candidate for now.

His hardline security chief, Nikolai Patrushev, 71, wants his son, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, 45, installed as president.

It is considered not to have been “stained” by war, but to be a safe pair of hands.

Another option is Putin’s super-loyal former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin, 50, now the governor of Tula, who once saved the Kremlin leader’s life in an attack by a ferocious brown bear.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, 57, seeks to burnish his credentials with hardline military and security chiefs with vitriolic attacks on the West on an almost daily basis.

I will likely look for the position again if it becomes available.

Many doubt that Putin will voluntarily relinquish power. Traditionally, the Russian despot has formally announced his candidacy quite late in the run-up to an election.

A Ukrainian serviceman from a fire platoon stands in a trench near the front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 27.

An MLRS, Multiple Launch Rocket System, based on the BM-21 “Grad”, fires a rocket, near the front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 27. .

Speculation has suggested that Putin is suffering from cancer and early-stage Parkinson’s disease.

Rumors about the deteriorating health, mental state and unstable position of the Russian president have circulated since long before he ordered the invasion of Ukraine. In the year since, the rumors have only intensified as the war seems to have taken its toll.

Footage from official meetings and appearances show him holding on to a table for support, tapping his feet seemingly uncontrollably and looking unsteady as he walks, while in recent years he has grown puffy and puffy.

But former US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told Foreign Policy magazine that he had seen Putin up close in the months leading up to his invasion of Ukraine.

I doubted the claims of a long-term illness.

“I have no reason to believe that he is just an aging 70-year-old Russian man receiving world-class medical care, but under world-class stress right now,” he said.