Peskov, quoted by the state-run media Russia-24, claimed Putin “enjoys absolute support from the population.”
“The president has not yet announced that he will nominate his candidacy. But if we assume that the president does, then it is obvious that in our country at the current stage no one can really compete with the President,” Peskov was quoted as saying.
Preparations for the presidential elections have not yet begun in the Kremlin, Peskov added.
Russia’s next presidential election is due to be held in March 2024, with a possible second round theoretically being held in April.
In 2020, Russian lawmakers voted in favor of a last-ditch proposal to reset the clock on Putin’s presidential term count in an updated version of the constitution, in effect allowing Putin to remain as president until 2036.
Peskov’s comments about the next presidential election come the day after elections were held in several annexed regions of Ukraine. These elections — expected to deliver victories for Putin’s United Russia party candidates, many of whom ran unopposed — were widely dismissed as a sham by the international community.
