Wladimir Putin has been sitting in various offices at the head of the Kremlin for 25 years. Speculation about his successor is already underway. Now he is heating her up.
When Vladimir Putin speaks publicly, it is often the intermediate tones and apparent secondary remarks that are of crucial importance. It is all the more surprising when the Kremlin chief expresses sensitive issues to him. In view of its advanced age of 72 years, there has been a long speculation about possible successors at the head of the Russian state. Putin is now heating this speculation again.
Putin commented on his successor to document on the occasion of his 25th anniversary at the head of the Kremlin. “I keep thinking about it,” Putin explained to the reporter of Russian state television in the film “Russia. Kremlin. Putin. 25 years”.
But who would be an option for the office of president? Putin did not say that clearly: “A person who does not enjoy the trust of the population has little chance of doing something serious. That is absolutely fundamental,” said the Kremlin boss. However, he always observes and evaluate possible candidates. However, Putin did not reveal the name.
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Putin apparently placed special emphasis on the will of the population in the documentary. “So if I think about it – and I keep thinking about it – I, of course, remember that one or more people have to find several people who can gain this trust in the country so that people have a choice.” Ultimately, the choice belongs “to the people, the Russian people, the citizens, the voters,” Putin claimed.
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The President thus counteracts political developments in Russia in the past decades – and gives himself an apparent legitimation. Putin took over the presidency in 2000, and he had been the prime minister since December 1999 – he was not elected at the time, but appointed President Boris Yeltsin at the time. Between 2008 and 2012, Dmitri Medvedev took over as president, Putin moved back to the office of prime minister in the period.
The Scharade had constitutional reasons: a Russian president was only allowed to rule for two terms. In 2012 Putin returned to the presidential office and had the constitution changed in 2020 so that earlier terms were “deleted”. So he could rule until 2036. At the latest all votes since 2012 have been considered the sham elections, since the state increasingly intervened in the election process. Manipulation, repression and changes in the law in favor of Putin are on the agenda in Russia.
“It seems to be a kind of loyality test for Putin’s inner circle”
With his statements on state television, Putin not only heated up international speculation, the rumor mill is also bubbling in Russia itself. Anton Geraschtschenko, a former consultant in the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, said on X that Putin wanted to warn his followers to be loyal: “What could have been the trigger for this statement?
Dmitri Drise, columnist with the Russian sheet “Kommersant”, does not believe that Putin has already found a successor. Rather, he interpreted the words of the Kremlin chief as follows: “This means that today there are obviously no suitable candidates and it is not entirely clear when they will step out of the shadow. Now clearly not.”
The political analyst Maxim Scharow wrote on Telegram that Putin wanted to unsettle political challengers: “Putin’s current, imaginative hint of ‘several successors’ and a ‘competition between them’ therefore aims to unsettle the ‘Peace Party’, which is seriously preparing to influence public opinion in the coming days in favor of a ‘ceasefire’.”
In addition to his 25th anniversary in the Kremlin, Putin also celebrates the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in World War II. In addition, victory celebrations take place in many places, the largest military parade is held in Moscow. Heads of state from all over the world should also take part. There are also victory parades in St. Petersburg, Vladiwostok and other large cities in the country.
