Asked whether he will run for president again or not, Putin avoided an affirmative answer – but did not rule out such a possibility either.

“We’ll see,” Putin told Russian state television on Sunday. “I have not decided anything for myself yet.”

Russia’s president also refused to say whether he considered finding himself a ‘successor’, explaining that it would only disrupt the government’s work. Everyone in the government, as well as on other levels in the state administration “must work instead of searching for successors,” he stressed.

As of now, Putin, who has been in power for two decades already, is not able to run for president again in the upcoming 2024 election. The situation might change with a new large constitutional amendments package, that is set to be considered during a nationwide referendum.

The upgraded constitution will see more powers transferred to the country's two houses of parliament – the State Duma and the Federation Council, ban important officials from having foreign citizenships, restrict all future presidents’ time in office to two terms in total as well as introduce a whole number of other tweaks.

At the same time, the package contains a controversial provision that would also ‘nullify’ the terms for the sitting president – allowing Putin to run for a fifth term in the next election.

The nationwide vote on constitutional amendments was initially expected to take place on April 22, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus situation. The polls will begin on June 25 and last until July 1, which has been declared a non-working day to facilitate the voting.

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