The White House on Friday mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he would run for re-election in 2024, with the US executive suggesting there was little doubt about the outcome.
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“Well, this is shaping up to be an epic battle, isn’t it?” John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said aboard Air Force One when he was asked about the Kremlin master’s announcement.
“That’s all I have to say about it,” he added.
Vladimir Putin, 71, announced on Friday that he was a candidate for a fifth term in the presidential election on March 17 in Russia, his re-election leaving little doubt after almost a quarter of a century in power and the repression of the opposition.
The Russian head of state, whom a 2020 constitutional revision authorizes to be a candidate again in 2024 and 2030, can theoretically remain in the Kremlin until 2036, the year he turns 84.
US President Joe Biden, whose own re-election campaign next year promises to be tough, warned earlier this week that a cut in US aid to Ukraine would be “the greatest gift” offered to Vladimir Poutine.
Urging Congress to approve a new package for Kyiv, Joe Biden warned that the Russian president, if he succeeds in seizing Ukraine, “will not stop there”.
