MOSCOW (AP) 鈥 President Vladimir Putin vowed Wednesday to push back Ukrainian forces to reduce the threat of attacks on Russian territory as he met with activists running his campaign ahead of the March presidential election that he鈥檚 all but certain to win.
Asked about plans for the military campaign in Ukraine, Putin said the line of contact needs to be pushed back to 鈥渟uch a distance from our territory that will make it safe from Western-supplied long-range artillery that Ukrainian authorities use for shelling peaceful cities.鈥
He added the Russian military has been doing just that, 鈥減ushing the enemy back from vital populated centers.鈥
鈥淭his is the main motive for our guys who are fighting and risking their lives there -- to protect the Motherland, to protect our people,鈥 he added.
Ukraine has struck inside Russia recently, including a on the border city of Belgorod that killed 25 people, injured over 100.
Putin also said Russian investigators concluded that Ukraine used U.S.-supplied Patriot air defense systems to shoot down a Russian military transport plane in the Belgorod region on Jan. 24. Russian authorities said the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including 65 Ukrainian POWs heading for a swap.
Ukrainian officials didn't deny the plane's downing but didn't take responsibility and called for an international investigation.
Putin said Russia wouldn't just welcome but would 鈥渋nsist鈥 on an international inquiry on what he described as a 鈥渃rime鈥 by Ukraine.
Putin, 71, who is running as an independent candidate, relies on a tight control over Russia鈥檚 political system that he has established during .
With prominent critics who either jailed or living abroad and most independent media banned, his reelection in the presidential vote is all but assured.
鈥淩ussia has been forced to defend its interests, including by military means,鈥 Putin told the meeting with his campaign staff, saying that even as the meeting was going on, Russian troops made new gains on the edge of the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.
鈥淲e are passing through a very difficult and important period in the development of our country, the strengthening of its independence and sovereignty in all vectors,鈥 he said. 鈥淪cum that is always present is being washed away bit by bit.鈥
Under a constitutional reform that he engineered, Putin is eligible to seek two more six-year terms, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036. He is already the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who died in 1953.
Three other candidates who were nominated by parties represented in parliament are also running: Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party.
All three parties have been largely supportive of the Kremlin鈥檚 policies. Kharitonov ran against Putin in 2004, finishing a distant second.
, a 60-year-old local legislator in a town near Moscow, also is seeking to run. He has openly called for a halt to and starting a dialogue with the West.
Thousands of Russians across the country signed petitions in support of Nadezhdin鈥檚 candidacy, an unusual show of opposition sympathies in the rigidly controlled political landscape that raises a challenge for the Kremlin. On Wednesday, Nadezhdin submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission, which is expected to review them over the next few days.
