Putin will be re-elected as Russian president in next election - Lukashenko

MINSK. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will be re-elected in the 2024 presidential election, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said.

"I believe that Putin will be the next president of Russia. The election is in half a year. Putin currently has no rivals in Russia," Lukashenko said in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko.

There could be a situation where someone will take over from Putin in Russia, and it is possible that there is such a successor ready right now, but Putin currently has many urgent matters to decide on apart from sharing his experience with others, Lukashenko said. "The country is big, there are lots of other problems to solve," he said.