Putin: I won't be president for a lifetime

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will not remain the country's top leader for life and will step down in line with the constitution no later than 2024, according to an interview with a Russian news agency released on Sunday.

Putin, 62, has effectively led Russia since he was first elected in 2000. He stepped aside after two four-year terms to abide by constitutional term limits, but retained power as prime minister and was elected president again in 2012.

He said his decision on whether to run for a fourth term in 2018 will depend on the situation in the country and his "own inner feelings and mood".

He said he doesn't plan on staying in power for life. "No, that's not good for the country," he said. "It's harmful and I don't need that."

Putin used the interview to hone his carefully crafted image as a clean-living leader, saying his favorite drink is "ordinary (black) tea", served in a thermal travel mug.

He said he is too busy to have many friends. "All the same, I don't feel lonely, however strange that sounds."

Throughout the interview, Putin described efforts at home and abroad that he said are aimed at trying to undermine his rule.

He said the Western sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses over Ukraine are an attempt to punish his friends and are "driven by a desire to cause a split in the elite and then, perhaps, in society". But to the West's chagrin, Putin said, Russian society remains consolidated behind him.

Private life

Putin, famously reticent about his private life, also broke his silence on the whereabouts of his two daughters.

Maria, 29, nicknamed Masha, and Yekaterina, 28, known as Katya, are a mystery to Russians who do not even know what they look like.

But Putin batted away rumors that they are living abroad, saying he meets them monthly.

"I have a packed work schedule. Even my daughters I only see once or twice a month, and then I need to pick my moment," Putin said.

Asked what country his daughters live in, he said, "In Russia, where else?"

"Of course, they live in Moscow. We meet at home," he added.

According to unconfirmed reports this summer, Maria was forced to flee her home in the Netherlands after a missile allegedly supplied by Moscow downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people, mostly Dutch nationals.

Yekaterina was reportedly set to marry the son of a South Korean general in 2010, but the rumor was denied by Putin's spokesman.

Putin is never officially photographed with his daughters, whose secrecy is in marked contrast to the high-profile Tatyana Yumasheva, daughter of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.

AP - AFP

(China Daily 11/25/2014 page11)