WAY AHEAD

Putin Considering 2018 Run

Expected to win re-election on Sunday.

Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin hasn't even been re-elected as president yet—that's expected Sunday—but he's already announced Friday that he's considering running for a fourth time in 2018. "It would be normal, if things are going well, and people want it," Putin said in an interview with the foreign press. "And if people don't want it, and things aren't going well, and a person clings to his chair and doesn't want to give it away, and if, on top of that, he violates the law—that would not be normal." Putin seemed confident that he wouldn't face overwhelming dissent after Sunday's election, despite the mass protests staged by anti-Putin demonstrators in recent weeks. He mentioned that the government had no plans to crack down on protesters and had "just introduced an entire package of laws to Parliament that would liberalize our political system."