Putin hints he may not run in 2018

MOSCOW, March 27 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested he may not run for re-election in 2018.

Putin spoke this week with the president of World Skills International, an organization which, in part, presents youth professional skills competitions, and after an announcement that Kazan, Russia, would host the 2019 world championship of trade skills, Putin said, "The event we are talking about should take place in 2019. The presidential elections in Russia will be held in 2018. But I'm sure whoever is the head of the Russian state will be happy to take part in these events."

Putin, 62, has had two non-sequential terms as president.

His equivocation came as his approval rating in Russia reached its highest level, a poll by the Public Opinion Fund said Friday. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they would vote for him if an election occurred immediately, up from 71 percent six months ago. His nearest competitor in the poll, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, received the approval of only four percent.

Putin's approval rating grew by 30 percent in Russia since the change of government in Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea in early 2014, Dmitry Badovsky of the Moscow-based Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Research said.

About 3,000 people participated in the Public Opinion Fund poll, with a statistical margin of error of less than 3.3 percent.