Steph Deschamps / December 17, 2023
President Vladimir Putin promised to make Russia a "sovereign power" in an address to the ruling party, his first campaign speech ahead of the March 2024 presidential election.
"Russia will be a sovereign, self-sufficient power, or it will no longer exist at all," Putin told top United Russia party officials gathered at a congress to support him. "Russia cannot, like some countries, give up its sovereignty in exchange for a few sausages and become someone's satellite," he said, in an apparent reference to Ukraine.
Accusing the West of seeking to "collapse the Russian economy and social sphere", he called on the country's "patriotic forces" to join forces in the face of the "historic tasks" facing Moscow. "Together with all the Russian people, let us defend Russia's sovereignty, freedom and security, everything we hold dear: our history, our culture, our values and our traditions", said the Russian President.
Vladimir Putin, whose country is the target of a series of Western sanctions and who sent his soldiers to attack Ukraine in 2022, announced last week his intention to run for a fifth term in the March 2024 presidential elections.
His re-election is in little doubt, as any real opposition has been methodically eradicated in Russia in recent years. The leader of United Russia, former president Dmitry Medvedev, assured us on Sunday that his party "will do everything" to support Vladimir Putin's candidacy. According to the former president, a victory for Vladimir Putin in March 2024 will enable the country to "finally gain the upper hand over the forces that threaten its security and sovereignty ».