Russian President Vladimir Putin is the longest-serving leader in Russia since Josef Stalin. Putin recently answered questions about his successor in a documentary filmed by the Russian state television channel.
Putin’s journey as Russia’s leader began on December 31, 1999, when then-President Yeltsin suddenly resigned and Putin, the Prime Minister at the time, became the Acting President. Putin went on to serve as President from 2000 to 2008. Due to constitutional term limits, Putin could not participate in the 2008 Russian presidential election. His close ally Dmitry Medvedev became President, and Putin served as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. In 2012, Putin returned to the presidency and has remained in office ever since.
The documentary titled “Russia, Kremlin, Putin, 25 years” produced by the Russian state television channel explores Putin’s quarter-century as Russia’s leader. When asked about considering a successor, the 72-year-old Putin replied, “I have always been considering this question.”
“At the end of the day, the choice belongs to the people, to the Russian people,” Putin said. “I believe there should be one, or better several (candidates), so that the people have a choice.”
According to the Russian constitution, if the president is unable to fulfill their duties, the prime minister assumes presidential powers, but there is currently no clear successor to Putin. The current Prime Minister of Russia is Mikhail Mishustin.
In the documentary, when asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation due to the conflict in Ukraine, Putin stated, “They want to provoke us, to make us make mistakes.”
“There has never been a need to use these weapons… I hope we won’t have to in the future either,” he said. “We have enough power and ways to bring the actions started in 2022 to a logical conclusion and achieve the results Russia requires.”
(Reference: Reuters)