Putin: The future president should be young, but mature

The future president of Russia should be "a fairly young man, but mature." This was in an interview with Bloomberg by Vladimir Putin. The conversation took place on September 1, but the complete decoding appeared on the Kremlin website only on Monday.

Putin added that he had not yet decided on his participation in the 2018 presidential election. "Now we are standing before the parliamentary elections. We need to go through these elections, look at the result. And even after that we will have almost two years ahead. Therefore, it is absolutely premature to talk about it," the president said.

“You know, in the modern rapidly changing world, talking about this is simply harmful,” Putin added.

According to him, "we need to work, to ensure that the plans and tasks that we set for ourselves are implemented, to achieve an increase in the living standards of people, the development of the economy, the social sphere, and increase the defense capabilities of the country."

“Depending on the solution of these problems, we will later look at how to organize the campaign of the presidential election in 2018, and who should take part in it,” Putin explained.

In September 2013, Putin did not rule out that he would run again to the presidential post in 2018. He said this during the controversy with the ex-Prime Minister of France Francois Fiion as part of the Valdai club meeting.

The President asked Fiion whether he would put his candidacy for the presidency of the French Republic. “I would not answer this question because you didn’t answer him,” the ex -Prime Minister said. “I do not exclude,” Putin answered. Then Fiion said that he also does not exclude such an opportunity for himself.

In March 2012, on the eve of the presidential election, in an interview with foreign journalists, Putin admitted that he did not know if he wanted to sit in the chair of the head of state for more than twenty years. “I have not decided for myself yet,” he said then. “I don’t even think.”

In January 2013, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that he considers it impossible to competition between him and Putin in the presidential election. "I believe that this would be wrong. I think it is impossible. We relate to one political force, why should we compete?" - said Medvedev.

At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that he had never excluded for himself the opportunity to run back to the president. “We’ll see - we’ll see. I never refused anything, but I like my work, I have to bring this part of the work and live this part of my life. Everything else will depend on my decision and, of course, on how the political fate of the forces that are currently in power will take shape,” Medvedev said.