Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to make Russia a “sovereign state” in an address to the ruling party on Sunday, his first campaign speech ahead of the March 2024 presidential election, AFP reported.

Vladimir PutinPhoto: Mykhailo Metzel / AP / Profimedia

“Russia will be a sovereign and self-sufficient state, otherwise it will not exist at all,” Putin said to senior officials of the “United Russia” party, who gathered at the congress to support his candidacy, reports Agerpres.

“Russia cannot, like some countries, give up its sovereignty in exchange for a few sausages and become someone’s satellite,” he said, obviously referring to Ukraine.

Accusing the West of seeking “to achieve the collapse of the Russian economy and social sphere”, he called on the country’s “patriotic forces” to join forces in the face of Moscow’s “historic tasks”.

“Let us, together with the entire Russian people, defend the sovereignty, freedom, security of Russia, everything that is dear to us, our history, our culture, our values ​​and traditions,” said the head of the Kremlin.

The party promises him that it will “do everything” to support him in the presidential race

Vladimir Putin, whose country is under a series of Western sanctions and who sent troops to attack Ukraine in 2022, announced last week his intention to run for a fifth term in the March 2024 presidential election.

His re-election is inevitable, since in recent years in Russia any real opposition has been methodically eradicated.

The head of United Russia, former president Dmitry Medvedev, assured him on Sunday that his party would “do everything” to support Vladimir Putin’s candidacy.

He welcomed the fact that Russia “was able to withstand the enormous pressure” of the West. “The response to the actions of our opponents was the resistance and unity of Russian society,” he said.

According to the ex-president, Vladimir Putin’s victory in March 2024 will allow him to “finally impose himself on the forces that threaten the security and sovereignty” of the country.

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