OREANDA-NEWS. Preparations for the presidential elections have begun in the Kremlin. On Monday, December 27, the RBC news agency reports with reference to several informed sources. According to the information, «a campaign with a certain candidate is being discussed. There are no other options», one of the media sources stressed.

According to RBC, in mid-December, a seminar was held in the Moscow region with the participation of the leadership of the Kremlin's internal political bloc, some employees of three Kremlin departments, as well as representatives of «Edinaya Russia» party, at which a possible strategy for the 2024 elections was discussed. The name of the potential candidate was not mentioned at the event, but as part of the brainstorming, ensuring legitimacy was named as the main task of the presidential election.

Earlier it became known that a draft resolution on the non-recognition of Vladimir Putin as the president of Russia after 2024 has been submitted to the House of Representatives of the US Congress. The document states that the vote on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which allowed Putin to «reset» his presidential terms and reapply for office after May 7, 2024, when his powers expire, cannot be considered legitimate due to numerous violations, including mass falsifications, depriving the opposition of the opportunity to publicly oppose the reset, non-admission of international observers from the OSCE and the Council of Europe. «A fictitious vote disguised as a referendum has bolstered all the remnants of Putin's legitimacy», the draft resolution cites an assessment of the vote on amendments to the constitution of the Russian Federation made by Senator James Risch, who headed the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2020.

Vladimir Putin himself, who got the opportunity to run for the post of president of the Russian Federation at least twice more — in 2024 and in 2030 thanks to the amendments to the constitution adopted in 2020, has repeatedly publicly stated that he has not made a decision to participate in the elections in 2024 yet. «In accordance with the Constitution, I have the right to be elected for a new term. Whether I will do it or not, I haven't decided for myself yet. But the very existence of this right already stabilizes the domestic political situation», he said, in particular on November 30, 2021.