Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he would seek a new six-year term in the country’s March elections in a move that would make him the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin. Putin, who has been in power for the past 18 years, is expected to sail to victory, with only token opponents competing against him. “I will offer my candidacy for the post of president of the Russian Federation,” he said at the GAZ factory in Nizhny Novgorod, surrounded by workers. Putin, who first became president after Boris Yeltsin sensationally resigned on New Year’s Eve 1999, handed power to his ally Medvedev in 2008 at the end of his second term. Putin served as prime minister — though few doubted who was really in charge — and returned as president in 2012.

Source: Pakistan Today December 06, 2017 15:00 UTC