Vladimir Putin has announced that he will be running for president of Russia next year. Is anyone surprised?
Now that Russia’s current president, Vladimir Medvedev, has agreed to step aside, Putin will almost certainly win the spot back come the March elections.
Once there, analysts expect him to handily win again in 2016, giving him the two consecutive presidential terms the Russian constitution allows.
Putin made a name for himself among traders during his first run as president of Russia — 2000 through 2008 — as a somewhat domineering figure who broke corporations like Yukos when it suited the Kremlin.
Even after he moved into the seemingly honorary prime minister role, he weighed in on all sectors of the Russian economy, from mining to oil to telecom.
We thought that the infamous “Putin put” — the risk of government intervention that investors had to accept when dealing with Russia — was unwinding in the Medvedev era.
Looks like it may be back in force.
Monday could be interesting for Moscow stocks and funds like RSX (quote).
As it was, capital was already fleeing Russia after the latest round of political wrangling between Kremlin and oligarchs.