'Invincible' Putin could rule for next decade: Russian president hints he will retain power before attacking West

Vladimir Putin yesterday hinted that he could be in power for another decade – after implying that he felt 'invincible'.

The Russian president also accused the West of attempting to topple him by targeting his billionaire friends with tough economic sanctions.

He told a Russian news agency: 'The attempt to punish my friends, whom I am not going to abandon, is a desire to sow discord within the elites.' 

He said it was right to use military force to seize Crimea, insisting: 'Because we are stronger. Stronger than everybody. Because we are right. Truth is power. When a Russian feels he is right he is invincible.'

Putin denied he will shut Russia off from the West, amid accusations his government is becoming more authoritarian by the day.

He said: 'We realise the fatality of the Iron Curtain' for us, and nobody is going to build a wall around us.'

The 62-year-old – who began his third term as president in 2012 after spending four years in the role of prime minister – did not rule out running for another six-year term in 2018. 

He said: 'The possibility exists of my standing as a candidate again. Whether it will happen, I don't know yet.'

However he added that he has no intention of struggling on until his death like many Soviet-era rulers, saying that it would be 'wrong for the country'.