Interfax: Russian pundits say Putin’s presidential bid natural

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking At All-Russia Popular Front Gathering

(Interfax – September 20, 2013) Russian pundits seem not to be surprised with President Vladimir Putin’s statement that he does not rule out standing in the next presidential election in 2018. Putin said this during a question-and-answer session at the Valday discussion club in Novgorod Region on 19 September. They believe Putin considers this scenario as basic and that this political ambition is natural, Russian news agencies reported on the same day.

The chairman of the Civil Initiatives Committee and former finance minister, Aleksey Kudrin, has said that it is normal for the head of state to have an ambition to run for the presidency in the next election. “He is an active politician. This is quite natural,” Kudrin was quoted by Interfax as saying.

President of the Global Interests Centre Nikolay Zlobin shares the same opinion; he said Putin’s statement was obvious. “The fact that Putin does not rule out this possibility is so much obvious. The election is a long way off. How could he rule out this possibility? Therefore this answer was safe for him,” Zlobin has told journalists.

Director of the International Institute for Political Expertise Yevgeniy Minchenko and president of the Institute of National Strategy Mikhail Remizov have told RIA Novosti that Putin did not joke when said he did not rule standing in the next presidential election. “I think he really does not rule out this. I think this scenario is really being considered. So I did not perceive this as a joke,” Minchenko was quoted as saying. “This is a baseline scenario at the moment. This does not seem to be a joke,” Remezov said.

Political analyst Gleb Pavlovskiy, too, believes that Putin’s possible intention to run for the next presidential term is considered to be a basic scenario at the moment. “I think that he is considering this scenario as main and basic which may alter only due to some tactical reasons. But from the strategic point of view he undoubtedly intend to run for the fourth term,” Pavlovskiy has told Interfax. He added that Putin’s statement was not surprise for him. “Does he risk something when talking about this today, in 2013?” Pavlovskiy said.

Political scientist Vladimir Slatinov believes that Putin said so in order not to look like a lame duck at the beginning of governance. “Supposing Putin answered the opposite in the ‘superpresidential system’ and said he leaves the post, it would destabilize the whole system very much. At the beginning of the governance Putin cannot look like a lame duck and cannot say that he is leaving, because this may lead to a political in-fighting which he cannot let happen,” Slatinov said. “In practice, he will keep intrigue to the bitter end, until 2017, I think,” Slatinov added.

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