Vladimir Putin may announce his presidential candidacy at the Russia exhibition at VDNKh

This could happen on November 4th

Vladimir Putin may announce his candidacy for a fifth presidential term on November 4 during the opening of the “Russia” exhibition at VDNKh, Vestka’s sources in the Russian government and the presidential administration say.

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The exhibition, for the organization of which “all ministries and all regions are bending over backwards,” will be held from November 4 to April 12 and will occupy the entire VDNKh area. According to Vorstka’s interlocutors in the Russian government, a “large plenary meeting” is planned at the opening of the exhibition, during which “the president will agree to requests” to run for a new term in the elections on March 17, 2024.

The exhibition will open at VDNKh on November 4, National Unity Day. Thus, Putin can announce participation in the campaign more than a month before its official start . According to the law, the Federation Council must formally announce elections no earlier than December 8 and no later than December 18 of this year.

Officials are preparing the environment for the president's speech as diligently as possible. “The management directly tells us that this exhibition is a backdrop for the presidential elections. Therefore, everything must be done top-notch and at the same time with a minimum expenditure of budget funds. Not only ministries, but absolutely all governors have already been harnessed to work on the exhibition,” said a source from “Vestka”.

The official director of the exhibition was the former vice-governor of the Moscow region, Natalya Virtuozova, who headed the event created by the ANO “Directorate of the Exhibition of Achievements of the 21st Century”. “All the main concepts are being agreed upon” with the curator of the Kremlin’s internal political bloc, Sergei Kiriyenko. In addition, the organizers report to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and presidential assistant Maxim Oreshkin. In addition, high-ranking officials and heads of state-owned companies were “recommended to ‘hang out’ at the exhibition during its work.”

Russian officials are looking for funds to organize exhibition stands. The organizers “are throwing out funding for the exhibition like hot potatoes” : “The boss [one of the ministers of the federal government - “Vestka”] writes that money is not included in our estimates for the exhibition and offers to help industry enterprises. They answer that they would be happy to do so, but they make their own stands, and all the resources are there. But there will definitely be money for such a thing. There is already a competition going on to try to get out of the way in order to be remembered by Putin when he appears at the exhibition,” he explained.

The scope of the exhibition already looks large-scale. It is expected to occupy the entire area of ​​VDNKh: pavilions will even be installed instead of the ice skating rink that traditionally operates there in winter. The exhibition already has an official website at russia. ru, and her Telegram channel is updated daily with stories about the beauties and unique features of Russian regions.

The interlocutors of “Vestka” could not even clarify the approximate cost of the exhibition. “The stands of the largest companies and regions will cost at least a billion. There will be about two dozen of them. And several dozen more “simpler” exhibitions. Plus, all this will have to be maintained for six months. We are talking about tens of billions of rubles in total,” notes one of Vorstka’s interlocutors.

News on the exhibition website since May talk about how the heads of regions, one after another, either order the preparation of their expositions or actively discuss them. For example, Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev promises to present the region’s achievements at a 100 square meter stand with “a multimedia screen, installations and photo zones.” Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov announced a vote among residents of the region on the design of the stand, and his Voronezh colleague Alexander Gusev promised to “show the development of the region in the format of “it was then.”

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