Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he is running for re-election on March 17, which will likely see him secure a fifth term in office.

Putin, 71, announced his decision following a Kremlin award ceremony after which war veterans and others reportedly pleaded with him to run.

With a firm grip on power already, Putin is widely expected to win another six-year term in office, although a change to the country’s constitution will allow him to run again in 2030, which could see his authority extend to 2036. He secured 76% of the vote in the 2018 election. 

‘I won’t hide it from you — I had various thoughts about it over time, but now, you’re right, it’s necessary to make a decision,’ Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin after the event. 

‘I will run for president of the Russian Federation.’

The announcement was low-key, with analysts saying the reason was to purvey Putin’s modesty and his perceived focus on doing his job as opposed to loud campaigning.

The former intelligence officer remains hugely popular in Russia. His support spiked with the onset of the war against Ukraine, and he currently has an approval rating of 82%, according to Statista, a global data platform. A failed rebellion last summer by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also did not damage Putin’s approval ratings. 

That support might come from the heart, or it might reflect submission to a leader whose crackdown on any opposition has made even relatively mild criticism perilous. 

Voting will take place over three days. The three-day window was first used during the COVID-19 pandemic, with officials saying it is more convenient for voters. 

Extensions to the national voting window have been criticized as a risk to election integrity, necessitating ballots being kept safe overnight and complicating the jobs of poll watchers.

Voting will also be open to four regions of Ukraine partially and illegally annexed by Russia.

It is unclear who will challenge Putin at the ballot box, although some people have already signaled that they will put their names forward.

Igor Girkin, who led pro-Russia fighters in eastern Ukraine in 2014, recently said that he wants to challenge Putin. Girkin is an outspoken pro-war blogger who has fiercely criticized Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine and is currently in jail awaiting trial for extremism, which he denies.

Others who have announced plans to run include former lawmaker Boris Nadezhdin, who holds a seat on a municipal council in the Moscow region, and Yekaterina Duntsova, a journalist and lawyer from the Tver region north of Moscow, who once was a member of a local legislature.

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny last week urged his supporters to vote for anyone but Putin.

‘Putin views this election as a referendum on approval of his actions,’ Navalny said in an online statement.

‘A referendum on approval of the war. Let’s disrupt his plans and make it happen so that no one on March 17 is interested in the rigged result, but that all of Russia saw and understood: the will of the majority is that Putin must leave.’

Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999. He has been president since 2012, with his previous stint as president running from 2000 to 2008. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden’s embattled son Hunter Biden is facing a new set of tax-related charges in California.

Hunter Biden is facing nine charges alleging a ‘four-year scheme’ when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.

Special Counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter ‘engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.’

Weiss said that, in ‘furtherance of that scheme,’ the younger Biden ‘subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions’ from the company ‘outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.’

The special counsel alleged that Hunter ‘spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,’ and that in 2018, he ‘stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.’

Weiss alleged that Hunter ‘willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,’ and that he ‘willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.’

‘[W]hen he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020,’ Weiss alleged.

Counts one, two, four and nine allege that Hunter did not pay his taxes in the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Counts three and five allege that Hunter failed to file his taxes in the years 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Count five of the indictment noted that Hunter raked in a ‘gross income in excess of $2.1 million’ and alleged the presidential scion failed to pay his taxes on his millions of dollars of income.

Count six alleges Hunter’s ‘evasion of assessment for 2018 Form 1040’ regarding his taxes, while count seven alleges Hunter filed ‘a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1040.’

The sixth count also alleges Hunter ‘finally filed his 2018 Form 1040 in 2020 in order to avoid being held in contempt of court in two civil proceedings.’

Additionally, count eight alleges Hunter filed ‘a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1120.’

Hunter pleaded not guilty in October to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after being charged out of Weiss’ yearslong investigation. 

Thursday’s development comes ahead of an expected vote from House Republican leaders next week on a measure that would formally initiate an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over possible ties to his son’s business dealings.

Hunter’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell attacked Weiss over the Thursday charges, accusing the special counsel of ‘bowing to Republican pressure’ when talking to the press.

‘Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,’ Lowell said in a statement.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jake Gibson, David Spuntz and The Associated Press contributed reporting.

IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler said the new charges against Hunter Biden are a ‘complete vindication’ of their years-long investigation into the president’s son.

Special Counsel David Weiss charged Biden late Thursday, alleging a ‘four-year scheme’ when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. Weiss filed the charges in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.

IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler approached Congress earlier this year, alleging that prosecutorial decisions made throughout the federal investigation into the president’s son were impacted by politics.

Reacting to the latest indictment, Shapley and Ziegler said they have been vindicated.

‘Eight months ago we did something ordinary people don’t do: we risked our careers and reputations to bring the truth out of the shadows and into the light,’ Shapley and Ziegler said in a joint-statement. ‘We were moved solely by our consciences, yet faced continual attacks. Nevertheless, in the face of all odds, we never wavered from what we shared with Congress.’

Shapley and Ziegler said the indictment ‘is a complete vindication of our thorough investigation, and underscores the wide agreement by investigators and prosecutors that the evidence supported charges against Hunter Biden.’

‘Yet as we have stated, this is much bigger than our investigation or any one individual: it’s about equal treatment of taxpayers under the law,’ they said.

Shapley, Ziegler and other IRS officials who testified before Congress, including Michael Batdorf, have said they were frustrated that the Justice Department did not charge Hunter Biden for failing to pay federal income tax for 2014 and 2015. They alleged that Weiss had allowed the statute of limitations to expire for tax charges against Hunter Biden from 2014 and 2015 in D.C.

Shapley, who led the IRS portion of the probe, said that Hunter Biden should have been charged with tax evasion for 2014, and for filing false tax returns for 2018 and 2019. With regard to the 2014 tax returns, Shapley said that Hunter Biden did not report income from Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. 

Fox News Digital first reported in December 2020 that Hunter Biden did not report ‘approximately $400,000’ in income he collected from his position on the board of Burisma Holdings when he joined in 2014. 

But Special Counsel David Weiss, during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last month, seemingly hinted that tax charges could be coming.

Weiss testified that the statute of limitations did, in fact, expire on the 2014 and 2015 tax years, but he said he could not comment as it ‘pertains to the ongoing litigation and our outstanding investigation.’

‘I’m just not at liberty to comment at this time, but there will come a time,’ Weiss said, adding that he would explain in his eventual report why the statute of limitations was allowed to lapse.

‘But even though the statute of limitations has lapsed, and even though charges won’t be filed, if there were to be an outstanding tax prosecution, there is no reason to believe that evidence pertaining to prior years, or witnesses involved in prior years, wouldn’t be part of that litigation,’ Weiss said.

In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Hunter ‘engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.’

Weiss said that, in ‘furtherance of that scheme,’ the younger Biden ‘subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions’ from the company ‘outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.’

The special counsel alleged that Hunter ‘spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,’ and that in 2018, he ‘stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.’

Weiss alleged that Hunter ‘willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,’ and that he ‘willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.’

Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is co-leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden and who has been investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings for months, praised Shapley and Ziegler for having ‘placed their careers on the line to blow the whistle on misconduct and politicization in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation.’ 

‘The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal, and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law. Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth,’ Comer said. 

Comer also said that Shapley and Ziegler ‘revealed investigators were prevented from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden.’ 

‘The House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Bidens’ influence peddling schemes reveals how Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name,’ Comer said. ‘In fact, Hunter Biden’s corporate entities implicated by today’s indictments funneled foreign cash that landed in Joe Biden’s bank account.’ 

Comer added: ‘Unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.’

Hunter Biden, in October, pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges brought by Weiss.

Hunter’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell attacked Weiss over the Thursday charges, accusing the special counsel of ‘bowing to Republican pressure’ when talking to the press.

‘Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,’ Lowell said in a statement.

Hunter Biden has been subpoenaed to appear for a deposition at the House Oversight Committee. That deposition is scheduled for December 13, but the president’s son has not committed to appear before the committee.  

When questioned by the press on Friday if President Biden would pardon his son Hunter, who is facing nine criminal charges in a federal tax evasion case, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden will not pardon Hunter’s charges.

‘Nothing has changed. That is still the case,’ Jean-Pierre said when asked whether Biden will pardon Hunter. 

‘I mean, the president has said this before, and he will continue to say, which is that he loves his son and supports him as he continues to rebuild his life. And I’m going to be really careful to not comment on this and refer to Department of Justice or my colleagues at the White House counsel. But that’s what I’m going to – I’m not going to go beyond telling you all what the president has said over and over again. He’s proud of his son, and he is building his life back,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

On Thursday, Hunter Biden was indicted on nine charges in California as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son intensifies against the backdrop of the 2024 election.

The new charges filed include three felonies and six misdemeanors, and are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018.

If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could receive a maximum of 17 years in prison.

President Biden ignored reporters Friday while being pressed for the first time on his son Hunter’s new indictment on federal tax charges.

The indictment, which was handed down Thursday by DOJ Special Counsel David Weiss in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes nine charges alleging a ‘four-year scheme’ when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

‘Have you spoken to your son? Have you spoken to Hunter? Any comment on the new charges against your son, Mr. President?’ reporters shouted as Biden walked across the White House’s South Lawn to Marine One for a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Biden only waved and continued walking. 

Hunter was also peppered with questions Friday while leaving his home in California, including whether he expected to be pardoned by his father.

He also ignored them before getting into a car and leaving.

The charges facing Hunter break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.

Special Counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter ‘engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.’

Weiss said that, in ‘furtherance of that scheme,’ the younger Biden ‘subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions’ from the company ‘outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.’

The special counsel alleged that Hunter ‘spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,’ and that in 2018, he ‘stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.’

Weiss alleged that Hunter ‘willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,’ and that he ‘willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.’

‘[W]hen he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020,’ Weiss alleged.

Thursday’s development comes ahead of an expected vote from House Republican leaders next week on a measure that would formally initiate an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over possible ties to his son’s business dealings.

Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.

Hunter Biden held nothing back during a recent podcast appearance, blasting his critics as ‘motherf—ers,’ and casting himself as a victim while claiming Republicans were trying to kill him in order to destroy his dad’s presidency.

The podcast episode of Moby Pod was published Friday, and was recorded in Hunter’s art studio in San Francisco. The more than an hour-long discussion eventually turned to Biden’s recovery from drug addiction and how he openly shared details of his struggles in his memoir, ‘Beautiful Things.’

Podcast co-host Lindsay Hicks told Biden there was ‘real beauty’ in how ‘vulnerable’ he was in the memoir by sharing many intimate details of his addiction. She noted that others may read it and feel that they don’t have to be ashamed of their secrets.

‘That’s the one thing — one of the reasons why I’m going to survive this — and I’m going to survive it clean and sober — is because I am not going to let these motherf—-ers use me as just another example of why people in recovery are never going to be okay, never to be trusted, they’re all degenerates. I’m just not going to let that happen. I’m just not going to let it happen,’ Biden said.

He went on to agree with the hosts’ opinion that people targeting Hunter, specifically Republicans, were addicted to inflicting their own hurt on other people.

‘I absolutely am positive of that. If you can’t look at some of these people like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Paul Gosar and see someone that have been bullied, that are just absolutely suffering— They’re suffering people. And that doesn’t excuse the things that they have done to others and to me, but you see people that are in anguish. They’re not healthy people,’ Biden said.

He claimed that those going after him were trying to end his life with the ultimate goal of hurting his father, President Biden.

‘They are trying to destroy a presidency. And so, it’s not about me. In their most base way, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle. And so, therefore, destroying a presidency in that way,’ he said.

‘These people are just sad, very, very sick people, that have most likely just faced traumas in their lives that they have decided they’re going to turn into an evil that they decided they’re going to inflict on the rest of the world,’ he added.

Biden went on to blame former President Donald Trump for the ‘underlying sickness’ facing the country, claiming he ‘gave voice’ to feelings of rage, and making it okay to express that.

He later dismissed the idea of the ‘Biden Crime Family,’ arguing that any claims of corruption within his family were refuted by the decades his family had been in the public light.

‘Think about this, okay? My dad has been a senator since I was two years old. He has released decades-worth of his tax returns. He has lived in the public light. We have lived in the public light. We have gone through four presidential campaigns. My entire life has been before the public. It took until, oh, low and behold, Donald Trump figured out that somehow this is a criminal enterprise,’ he joked.

Biden was indicted Thursday in California on nine federal charges related to allegedly failing to pay taxes over a period of four years. 

Legal experts warn that Hunter Biden could face ‘a real chance of jail time’ if convicted on his new felony tax charges.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital said Biden could face jail time if he is convicted of the three felony tax charges filed by special counsel David Weiss in California Thursday.

Turley said Weiss repeatedly emphasized in Biden’s indictment ‘that this was a four-year effort to knowingly evade taxes to spend on ‘an extravagant lifestyle.”

‘It is hard to see how prosecutors would make such a case and not seek jail time for knowingly criminal conduct. Moreover, given the evasion going back to 2016, it is hard for the court to dismiss this as a first-offender novice,’ Turley said.

‘There is a real chance of jail time if he is convicted on the three felonies.’

Former deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg told Fox News Digital ‘it is very hard to say’ what the average American would face if convicted of Biden’s charges ‘because federal judges typically grant a ‘downward variance’ from the advisory sentencing guidelines range in tax cases.’

‘Also, the sentence depends on whether you plead guilty and accept responsibility or take the government to trial and lose,’ Wisenberg said.

‘I would guess that a typical citizen who pleaded guilty to the charges would end up getting anywhere from one to three years,’ he added.

The experts’ comments come as the younger Biden navigates expanding legal woes as his father, President Biden, seeks re-election to a second term.

Hunter Biden is facing nine charges alleging a ‘four-year scheme’ when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors from $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid.

Special counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter Biden ‘engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.’

Weiss said that, in ‘furtherance of that scheme,’ the younger Biden ‘subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions’ from the company ‘outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.’

Counts one, two, four and nine allege that Hunter did not pay his taxes in the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Counts three and five allege Hunter failed to file his taxes in the years 2017 and 2018.

Count five of the indictment noted Hunter raked in a ‘gross income in excess of $2.1 million’ and alleged the presidential scion failed to pay his taxes on his millions of dollars of income.

Count six alleges Hunter’s ‘evasion of assessment for 2018 Form 1040’ regarding his taxes, while count seven alleges Hunter filed ‘a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1040.’

The sixth count also alleges Hunter ‘finally filed his 2018 Form 1040 in 2020 in order to avoid being held in contempt of court in two civil proceedings.’

Additionally, count eight alleges Hunter filed ‘a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1120.’

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday the president would not be pardoning his son if he’s convicted.

‘Nothing has changed. That is still the case,’ Jean-Pierre said when asked if Biden will pardon Hunter. 

‘I mean, the president has said this before, and he will continue to say, which is that he loves his son and supports him as he continues to rebuild his life,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘And I’m going to be really careful to not comment on this and refer to Department of Justice or my colleagues at the White House counsel. But that’s what I’m going to. I’m not going to go beyond telling you all what the president has said over and over again. He’s proud of his son, and he is building his life back.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed reporting.

A federal appeals court has upheld key parts of a federal judge’s gag order limiting what Donald Trump can say about his ongoing prosecution by the Special Counsel for alleged Jan. 6 election interference.

‘We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding, warranting a speech-constraining protective order,’ the appellate court said Friday. ‘The district court’s order, however, sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary. For that reason, we affirm the district court’s order in part and vacate it in part. Specifically, the Order is affirmed to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.’

Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to share more details about the gag order and how he is planning to proceed.

‘An Appeals Court has just largely upheld the Gag Order against me in the ridiculous J6 Case, where the Unselect January 6th Committee deleted and destroyed almost all Documents and Evidence, saying that I can be barred from talking and, in effect, telling the truth,’ Trump posted. ‘In other words, people can speak violently and viciously against me, or attack me in any form, but I am not allowed to respond, in kind. What is becoming of our First Amendment, what is becoming of our Country? We will appeal this decision!’

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.