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Putin says will step down as president after term expires in 2024

Putin says will step down as president after term expires in 2024

Putin

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His current presidential term, his second in succession, ends in 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he would not serve more than two presidential terms in a row, as the Russian constitution states.

His current presidential term, his second in succession, ends in 2024.

His remarks, made to reporters at an economic forum in St Petersburg and broadcast on state TV, are not a surprise and do not necessarily mean he will relinquish power in six years.

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Putin has stepped down as president once before, in 2008, after serving two back-to-back terms only to return in 2012 after doing a stint as prime minister, a manoeuvre he would be legally entitled to carry out again.

"I have always strictly abided by and abide by the constitution of the Russian Federation," Putin said, when asked if and when he would be leaving office.

"In the constitution it's clearly written that nobody can serve more than two terms in a row ... I intend to abide by this rule."

Meanwhile, he earlier also stated thatit was still possible to save the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015, despite US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement.

"The US president is not closing the door on negotiations," Putin said at the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum. "I think that all is not yet lost," he added.

Earlier this month Trump controversially pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

Saving the deal provides a rare point of agreement between Moscow and European countries, which have seen relations tank in recent years over crises in Ukraine and Syria, as well as accusations of meddling in foreign elections and the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.