The appointment is made. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, set the presidential election in Russia on Thursday, December 7, for March 17, 2024, during a meeting broadcast live by public television. The decision was adopted unanimously by senators. “This decision practically kicks off the presidential campaign” in Russia, welcomed the President of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko.
These elections “will be a kind of culmination of the reunification” of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, whose annexation Russia claims, she stressed. The presidential election must therefore be held shortly after the second anniversary of the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022 and which provoked unprecedented sanctions against Russia.
“Despite the difficult external circumstances and the enemy’s attempts to weaken Russia, we remain faithful to our main constitutional values and guarantee all rights and freedoms of citizens,” Matvienko said. According to her, “our citizens, our society are consolidated like never before” around the power of Vladimir Putin, “and the task of the State is to prove itself worthy of this trust, to prevent the slightest provocation.”
Mr. Putin is not yet officially a candidate in this election to run for a new term, but the 2020 constitutional revision theoretically allows him to remain in power until 2036. “Our people will make the only right choice possible (…) , by voting for Russia, for victory,” said Valentina Matvienko.