Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he would think about running for the post of the Russian leader in the next election.

During a meeting on dealing with the consequences of forest fires in the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region, one of the local residents, whose house was damaged in a fire, spoke to Putin by means of a video call.

“We all ask you to run for president during the next presidential elections,” the resident said.

“Okay, I’ll think about it, thank you,” Putin replied.

In early June, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that this issue was not on Kremlin’s agenda.

In an interview with US filmmaker Oliver Stone that was aired in June, Putin declined to comment on whether he would run for president in 2018.

Source: Sputnik