President Putin has no opponents in Russian election

The Kremlin believes there are many potential candidates in next year's Russian election, but no one is truly capable of becoming a rival to current President Vladimir Putin.

President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP

“We see many outstanding individuals, but we have not seen any opponents. In my opinion, there is still no real opponent for Mr. Putin,” the news agency said.TASSOn December 14, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the channelRossiya 24 TV.

Asked about who would manage President Putin's election campaign, Mr. Peskov said, “Mr. Putin has not yet become a candidate, and as a future candidate, he has not yet announced his decision.”

“That is why until now we have not received any information (about the election campaign),” said President Putin's spokesman.

President Putin only announced his decision to run for a fourth term on December 6. However, it is not yet clear whether Mr. Putin will run again as an independent candidate or as a representative of a political party, specifically the ruling United Russia Party. Last month, the Chairman of the United Russia Party, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, announced that the party would support President Putin “unconditionally” if he decides to run again.

To date, the only candidates who have announced their intention to run for the Russian presidency in 2018 are incumbent President Putin, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Chairman of the Communist Party of Russia Gennady Zyuganov, founder of the Yabloko Party Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Grand Lodge of Russian Freemasons Andrey Bogdanov, businessman Boris Titov, journalist and singer-songwriter Ekaterina Gordon.

According to Dan Tri