What's special about Mr. Putin's closed meeting with 7 presidential candidates?
Shortly after his landslide victory in the March 18 election, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a closed-door meeting with the remaining seven candidates at the Kremlin. The meeting lasted more than two hours but the press was not allowed to attend.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with former presidential candidates at the Kremlin shortly after his re-election. Photo: Sputnik |
SputnikAccording to the source, yesterday, March 19, at the invitation of President Putin, 7 presidential candidates had a closed meeting at the Kremlin. Because this was a closed meeting, the media was not allowed to attend, so the content of the meeting was only revealed a little after the former candidates left the meeting.
At the meeting, President Putin is said to have called on former candidates to cooperate for the long-term interests of the country and the Russian people, putting these interests above party interests, Sputnik reported.
"These may be not simple solutions, they may be decisions that require further explanation, in which I very much hope that we will always work first and foremost in the long-term interests of Russia and the Russian people, and the goals of the group or party will come second," Sputnik quoted President Putin.
Speaking to reporters after leaving the meeting, Liberal Democratic Party candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky said he had proposed that the President establish a State Council whose head would exercise presidential powers. Meanwhile, Growth Party candidate Boris Titov said he had presented President Putin with a list of oligarchs hiding in the UK who wanted to return to Russia. Civic Initiative Party candidate Ksenya Sobchak said she had given the President a list of political prisoners and asked him to pardon them.
The Kremlin guests also discussed the election process and how to improve the electoral system. Mr. Titov said that at the meeting, Mr. Putin did not mention the composition of the new government or a potential successor.
For his part, earlier, at a rally with supporters after the preliminary election results, answering a reporter's question about whether he would continue to run for president after 2024, Mr. Putin said: “What you just said is quite funny. Count it… Will I hold this position until I am 100 years old? No way!”,
Having been elected to a fourth six-year term, Mr. Putin will not be able to run for the Kremlin in 2024 due to the rule limiting a president to two consecutive terms. However, because the Russian constitution does not limit the number of times an individual can run for president, Mr. Putin still has the opportunity to participate in the election in 2030 as a presidential candidate.