Putin admitted his desire to abandon the proposed presidency

Russian leader Vladimir Putin explained why, in a conversation with the first president of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin 25 years ago, he said that he was not ready to take the post of head of state.

"It's not that I don't want to. For me, firstly, it was unexpected, and secondly, well, I guess, yes, I didn't want to, because I thought I wasn't ready," he said, answering a question from Pavel Zarubin, a VGTRK journalist.

According to Putin, when he accepted the position, he thought first of all about the welfare of the country and solving the pressing problems facing Russia.

"I was thinking about whether it would be possible to do this, whether I would be able to cope," the president noted.

The news is being updated