Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Friday that he hoped President Vladimir Putin would run in the March election for another term as Russian president, a move that would keep the Kremlin chief in power until at least 2030.
Putin, who was handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has already been in power for longer than any other Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin, beating even Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year tenure.
Asked by the student television channel of Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO) what the next president after Putin should be like, Peskov said: “The same.”
“Or different but the same,” Peskov added with a smile.
“Putin has not yet announced his intention to run but I sincerely want to believe that he will do that, and I have no doubt that he will win the elections. I have no doubt that he will continue to be president.”
Reuters reported earlier this month that Putin has decided to run in the March election, as the Kremlin chief feels he must steer Russia through the most perilous period in decades.
