MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/: Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday that The New York Times has misinterpreted his words about the upcoming presidential election in Russia in 2024 where Putin will be re-elected by more than 90% of votes.
The New York Times earlier on Sunday quoted Peskov as saying that presidential election in Russia "is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy" and that "Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote." The article was written by Roger Cohen.
"The author of the article interpreted [my words] in an absolutely wrong way," Peskov told TASS. He confirmed that he had met and spoken to this journalist and one of his questions had been about the upcoming election. "And the answer was the following: the level of consolidation around the president is absolutely unprecedented and it can be said already now that if he runs [for president], he will be reelected by an overwhelming majority, and the election - theoretically - only entail unnecessary spending," he said.
However, according to Peskov, he told the journalist that "the president insisted that the election be organized without fail, that this is what democracy requires." "And the president said this in his state-of-the-nation address," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
Apart from that, he added that he shared his personal opinion with the journalist.
Presidential election will be held in Russia in March 2024. Putin has the right to run for another term in office but has not yet announced his election plans.
