Russia's Volodin Says Has No Plans To Run For President, Urges To Support Putin

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2021) Russian lower house speaker Viacheslav Volodin said on Monday that he has never planned to run for president and urged to continue supporting Vladimir Putin as the best candidate for the role of the country's leader.

"I have never planned this, do not plan now and never will. Firstly. Secondly, I do not have the qualities a president should have," Volodin said in an interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Furthermore, he urged Russians to do everything they can to ensure that current Russian leader Vladimir Putin stays at the helm for "as long as possible," since under him the country is more likely to become stronger.

"We all need to do everything in our power so that he remains our president for as long as possible. With him, Russia will become even stronger, people will live better, without crises and wars. And even if problems arise, as with the sanctions, we will get through them much less painfully than in previous periods of our country's history," Volodin noted.

According to the lawmaker, Putin also possesses the qualities that heads of state rarely have, such as efficiency, toughness, capacity to work hard, coupled with kindness, empathy and humanity.