Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that constitutional amendments adopted last year allowing him to seek two more presidential terms could "stabilize" the country but did not say whether he would actually run.
Speaking at a Russian investment forum by video link, Putin said that he had "not yet decided" whether he would run for president in 2024, when his current, second consecutive term ends.
"But the very existence of this right already stabilizes the internal political situation," the longtime Russian leader said. "The fact that I have the right to be elected is enough for now," he said, adding that it was too early to talk about 2024.
Putin, 69, is currently serving his fourth presidential term, after first rising to power in 2000.
Last year authorities amended Russia's Constitution to allow Putin to serve two more consecutive six-year presidential terms that could see him remain in power until 2036.
The Russian opposition criticized the amendments, saying that Putin – who will turn 84 in 2036 – was planning on ruling for life.
In an interview with CNBC last month, Putin refused to say whether he planned to remain in the Kremlin after 2024 and said that talk of his possible successor "destabilizes" the country's political system.
Putin in his first years in the Kremlin shored up his rule by promising stability following the turbulent 1990s in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.
