MOSCOW, Sept 12 — Russian President Vladimir Putin said today he will only comment on whether he will run for re-election in 2024 after the ballot is officially announced later this year.

Putin has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential elections and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where political opposition has become virtually non-existent.

"According to the law, parliament must make a decision at the end of the year,” Putin told the audience at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Pacific port of Vladivostok.

"When the elections are announced, when the date is set, then we will talk about it,” he added.

Presidential elections in Russia are officially set by parliament and held every six years, after the term limit was lengthened from four years previously.

They may enter a second round if no candidate is able to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote, but in practice this has never happened, with Putin winning by large margins.

Rights groups say national elections in Russia have largely become a rubber stamp for Putin and the ruling party.

Dozens of prominent Russian dissidents have left the country or have been jailed, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny who is serving a prison sentence on a range of charges.

In August, Navalny was handed a new, 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters this week that the president did not currently face any competition.

"It is obvious, perhaps, that no one can really compete with him in our country at the current stage,” he said. — AFP