Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual press conference and answer questions from the public on Dec. 14, the Kremlin said on Thursday, fueling speculation that he will use the event to announce his candidacy for a new term.

The announcement came after Putin canceled his annual year-end press conference last year for the first time in 10 years.

Having served as president or prime minister since 1999, Putin has yet to say whether he will run in next March’s presidential election, but is expected to.

Earlier this month, six sources told Reuters that Putin had decided to run for office, a decision that would keep him in power until at least 2030.

The Kremlin chief felt he had to lead Russia through its most dangerous period in decades, sources told Reuters, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine and what Putin portrays as Moscow’s existential struggle with the West for a new world order.

The election campaign will start on December 13

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said on Tuesday that Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, will officially announce the date of the March presidential election on December 13, marking the start of an open campaign.

A day later, Putin’s press conference will take place.

“On December 14, Vladimir Putin will summarize the results of the year,” Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Peskov told reporters.

“This, as before, will be a program, a project of TV channels, and it will be a combined format of the Direct Line (direct session of questions and answers with the audience) and the final press conference of the president,” said Peskov. .

According to Russian law, the upper house of parliament must announce the exact date at least 100 days before the vote. Election day should be March 17.

Putin, 71, took over from Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999 and is nearing the end of his fourth term.

Polls favor Putin

Only Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, was in office longer after the fall of the ruling Romanov tsarist dynasty in 1917.

Diplomats say there is no serious challenger to threaten Putin’s election chances if he runs again.

Official opinion polls approve of him, 80% of Russians would vote for him, and the former KGB officer can count on the support of the state and state media.

Years of repression mean there is no significant organized opposition to Putin’s rule in Russia, where politicians and officials stress the need for maximum unity and no change at the top during wartime.

The Russian military wants Putin to succeed

Some analysts believe that the Russian military is throwing many troops into the battle for Avdiyivka in an attempt to secure a victory that Putin will announce at a press conference.

Russian troops are ramping up their efforts to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiyivka, trying to advance from all sides after weeks of fighting, a senior city official said.

“Things have become even more complicated in the Avdiiv direction. For some time, the intensity of confrontations increased. The Russians opened two more sectors from which they began to attack – from the direction of (the city of) Donetsk… and in the so-called industrial zone. The enemy is trying to storm the city from all sides,” said the head of the Avdiyiv Military Administration Vitaliy Barabash.