Putin supports legislation allowing him to run for fifth term as Russian president

Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed legislation that permits him to run for a fifth term as president.

Putin, 67, emphasized that the legislation, which passed the lower house of Parliament Tuesday, still needs approval from Russia’s Constitutional Court and a nationwide plebiscite scheduled for April, The New York Times reported. 

The president, who has previously moved cautiously when appearing to work to retain power, made the rare announcement that he supported staying as president to help the country and its security, according to the Times.

The president is the guarantor “of the security of our state, of its internal stability — its internal, evolutionary stability,” Putin said, according to the Times. “And I mean evolutionary. We’ve had enough revolutions.”

The Russian president said he supported the two-term limit for Russia in the future but said the country may not be ready for these turnarounds as it faces foreign and domestic threats.

“I’m sure the time will come when the highest, presidential authority in Russia will not be, as they say, so personified — not so bound up in a single person,” Putin said, according to the Times. “But that is how all of our past history came together and we cannot, of course, disregard this.”

Putin has served 20 years as either president or prime minister, first being elected in 2000. He had his prime minister, Dmitri Medvedev, serve as president while he was prime minister from 2008 to 2012 before claiming the presidency again.

The current Russian constitution requires him to step down in 2024 after his second consecutive term, but experts have thought he would find a way to stay as president. Putin did not say whether he would run for office in 2024, according to the Times.

“I’m sure that together, we will do many more great things, at least until 2024. Then, we will see,” he said.