Vladimir Putin on Friday confirmed that he would once again be running in yet another foregone conclusion of a presidential election next year. It means he will keep his grip on power until at least 2030. Putin made his intentions for 2024 clear as he was giving out awards to veterans of his brutal invasion of Ukraine when a lieutenant colonel asked him to run to be the leader of Russia again. “I will not hide that I have had different thoughts at different times but it is now time to make a decision,” Putin, 71, said. “I will run for the post of president.” His comments in the Georgievsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace were broadcast on television. Putin has already been president for longer than any post-Stalin Russian ruler.