VLADIMIR Putin has announced he WILL run again for president in the 2024 elections that could see him kept in power until at least 2030.
The Russian tyrant is all but certain to be elected for a fifth time after two already brutal decades of his iron-fist rule.
Russian state media reported today that Putin, 71, finally made his move to extend his power for another six years.
Despite rumours of his failing health, the ageing despot is said to be determined to cling on to power as his war in Ukraine grinds to a stalemate, insider sources said.
Putin's current powers as head of state expire on May 7, 2024 with the next elections scheduled for March 17, 2024.
Until now, there had been no official confirmation of Putin's plans to stand for re-election.
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The leader has twice used his leverage to amend the constitution and unless he is ousted or dies, he could theoretically stay in power until his mid-80s.
After being handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, Putin has already served as president for longer than any other Russian ruler since Josef Stalin.
The Kremlin chief still commands wide support after nearly a quarter-century in power, despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of young Russian's lives.
About 80 per cent of the populace approves of Putin's performance, according to a recent independent poll.
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However, Putin's cronies have viciously cracked down on any opposition to his rule and have made any mild criticism perilous.
After defusing an armed mutiny by the leader of the Wagner mercenary group in June, Putin has moved to shore up support among his core base in the security forces and military, while Wagner has been brought firmly to heel.
Yevgeny Prigozhin meeting his end in a fiery plane crash in August only seemingly reinforced Putin's control.
Today's announcement came shortly after the Kremlin warned the threat of a nuclear world war hasn't been greater since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Former Russian president and close Putin confidante Dmitry Medvedev predicted “new rivers of blood will flow”.
He lambasted the Biden administration’s attempts to force the US congress to approve more military support for Ukraine.
Medvedev said: “Never since the Cuban Missile Crisis has the threat of a direct clash between Russia and Nato leading to the Third World War been so real.”
Meanwhile, a new Russian investigation claims that a paranoid Putin does use body doubles and locks his staff away inside a quarantined "clean zone".
The new report accused the tyrant of increasingly isolating himself and hiding from public view by relying on doppelgangers as rumours of his ill health run rampant.
This week, the 71-year-old ruler made his first trip to the Middle East since his full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
The ageing president was reportedly accompanied by a huge team of doctors who chaperone him on all of his trips as he reached the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Insiders allege that several secret service agents are assigned the unglamorous task of collecting his stools and urine to deliver back to Moscow in a "special suitcase".
Such precautions are allegedly taken to conceal information about his potential illnesses.
It comes as Putin refused to stand within 70ft of Britain's new ambassador to Moscow for "sanitary reasons" at a diplomatic ceremony – sparking fresh rumours of ill health.
He insisted on keeping a huge distance between himself and other diplomats at the Kremlin event – including the UK's Nigel Casey as he ignored the 21 envoys.
Telegram channel General SVR claimed a Putin body double attending the meeting with the ambassadors, which explained the 70ft distance to avoid any suspicion.
Claims of Putin using stand-ins or body doubles have been mounting in recent months and have been ferociously denied by the Kremlin.
Even Ukraine said it is a "fact" that he uses body doubles to argue that the Russian ruler is on his last legs.
Earlier in October, the Kremlin was forced to issue an extraordinary denial at the end of last month after false reports swirled that Putin had died.
Claims surfaced in a Telegram channel that Putin had died at his Valdai palace, just north of Moscow, and that his body was being kept in a freezer.
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Ukrainian intelligence then alleged that Putin faked his own death in a bizarre bid to test his popularity among the Russian public.
It followed years of feverish speculation surrounding Putin's health as questions have been raised over his changing facial features and signs of a possible serious illness, including Parkinson's and pancreatic cancer.
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