Is Russia’s defence chief emerging as Putin’s possible successor?

Putin is still pondering the idea of another term, but as he approaches 70, bets are being placed on Sergey Shoigu.

Even though Vladimir Putin was first elected Russia’s president in 2000, he is currently serving his “zero” term – according to the law that “nullified” his three previous presidencies and the current one. The legislation, which lets him run for two six-year terms in 2024 and 2030, was symbolically sponsored by lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly to space in 1963. “Simple folks simply asked me” to submit the bill, she said, and the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament dominated by Putin loyalists, adopted it in March 2020.