Vladimir Putin was sworn-in as president of Russia for a fourth term in Moscow on Monday, reported BBC. Putin has been in power for 18 years as president and prime minister. He is set to serve another six years as president.

“I consider it my duty and sense of my life to do everything for Russia for its present and future – for the peaceful and prosperous future – and the welfare of every Russian family,” Putin said in a speech at the inauguration ceremony held at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, reported Al Jazeera. Nearly 6,000 guests along with volunteers and activists of Putin’s re-election campaign were invited for the grand ceremony. Putin was elected president after more than 70% of balloters voted for him in the presidential elections held in March, according to The Moscow Times.

Putin spoke to government members on Sunday and laid down the challenges and tasks ahead during his next tenure. “Our key task for the next few years is a significant raise of the citizens’ real income,” he said, according to a Kremlin press release, reported Al Jazeera.

Two days ago, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and hundreds of anti-Kremlin activists were detained at a rally organised to register their opposition to what Navalny says is Putin’s autocratic Tsar-like rule.

The Russian president used his last term to annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and launch a military campaign in Syria on the side of Bashar al-Assad the following year and has promised to improve living standards at home during his next term.