Putin vows to make Russia ‘sovereign, self-sufficient power’ in fifth Kremlin term

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed to make Russia “sovereign and self-sufficient” in the face of the West, in his first campaign speech before a March vote to extend his long rule until at least 2030.
Putin will stand for a fifth Kremlin term in an election with no real opposition that will come just over two years since he launched the seismic Ukraine offensive.
The 71-year-old came to power in 2000, with a whole generation in Russia unable to remember life without him. The vote will likely prolong his rule until at least 2030 and give him the possibility to stay in the Kremlin until 2036.
“We must remember and never forget and tell our children: Russia will be either a sovereign, self-sufficient state, or it will not be there at all,” Putin said during a congress of the ruling United Russia party.
Vladimir Putin listens to Director of the exhibition Natalya Virtuozova as he visits the “Russia” forum and exhibition. Reuters

Putin has said that he will make “sovereignty” — a loosely defined term — one of the key aims of his fifth term in the Kremlin.
“We will only make decisions ourselves without foreign advice from abroad,” Putin told United Russia members, to applause. “Russia cannot — like some countries — give away its sovereignty for some sausage and become someone’s satellite,” he said, using a common Russian expression.
The United Russia party backed Putin’s candidacy unanimously, with party leaders and public figures making adoring speeches lending him support.
The party is headed by Dmitry Medvedev, who switched roles with Putin in 2008 to serve as president, before Putin returned to the Kremlin.
Medvedev has become one of the most hawkish figures in Russia during the Ukraine campaign.
The 2024 election will come as Moscow’s Ukraine campaign drags on for another winter, costing a high number of deaths on both sides, with criticism of the military operation banned in Russia.