Russia may begin full mobilization after the presidential elections of the Russian Federation in March 2024, Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, suggested, reports Guardian.

“Russia has been able to adapt and is constantly pouring funds into its defense sector. As expected, Russia proved to be more resistant to Western sanctions. Russia is increasingly moving its economy to a state of war. Full mobilization may take place after the 2024 presidential elections,” said Danilov, speaking at the International Security Forum in Halifax, Canada.

In September, the Ukrainian military said it expected Russia to soon launch a massive mobilization campaign to try to draw hundreds of thousands of troops from Russia and occupied Ukraine.

The Ukrainian General Staff did not provide any evidence to support its statement. Russian officials have said there are currently no plans for a new wave of mobilization and that Moscow is focused on recruiting a professional military.

In July, the Russian parliament increased the maximum age from which men can be mobilized for army service by at least five years – for officers of the highest rank – to 70 years.

Russia is raising the age limit for male conscription from 27 to 30 and has made it harder for young men to evade the draft by sending conscription orders by mail.

Putin is expected to remain in office until 2030

Several sources told Reuters that Putin has decided to run for president in March, which would allow him to stay in power until 2030.

Putin, 71, who was handed over the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has already been president longer than any other Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, even surpassing Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year tenure.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov expressed hope that Putin will run for a new presidential term in the March elections, which would allow him to remain in power until at least 2030.

Opposition politicians say that since coming to power in 1999, Putin has built a dictatorial system that mimics the institutions of democracy, stifling any real political competition or genuine dissent.

Putin’s supporters praise him for bringing order to the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

They cite polls that show he is supported by about 80 percent of the Russian population.

Russian pro-war nationalist Igor Girkin, who is in pre-trial detention awaiting trial for inciting extremism, said on November 19 that he wants to run for president, but believes that the March election will be a “prime” with a clear winner.

Literature:

• Russia tightens conditions for the press in next year’s elections. Limited access for independent and foreign journalists
• Putinism after Putin? How Russia’s succession problem makes its future uncertain