With his announcement that he will run for President, Russian ‘Prime Minister’ Putin has ended the pretense that he hasn’t been running the show the whole time via his puppet Medvedev.

Assuming, as is likely, he wins then Putin will be able to serve two 6 year terms. Adding this to his two prior terms as President (2000-2008) and his service as ‘Prime Minister’ from 2008-2012, he will have ruled Russia for about a quarter centurt (2000-2024).

This would make him second only to Stalin in terms of modern Russian/Soviet leaders and among the longest ruling leaders in Russian history.

Given his authoritarian tendencies and his less than positive view to the west and the US, this is not a positive development.