Presidential campaign has begun in Russia
The decree of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of Russia’s parliament) on setting March 18, 2018 as the date for the Russian presidential elections was approved. Thus, the presidential campaign was officially launched in Russia.
As is known, on December 6th, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his participation in the presidential elections for the fourth time; he will go to the elections as independent candidate.
It was reported that the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev would not be Putin’s rival in the presidential elections.
At the final annual press conference on December 14th, Putin stated that he had no opponent, as the opposition could only "make noise."
Co-founder of the Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, journalist Ksenia Sobchak, and two other TV hosts, Anfisa Chekhova and Katya Gordon, pornstar Elena Berkova, and the main communist of Russia, Gennady Zyuganov, declared their intention to participate in the elections.
According to the results of an opinion poll carried out by the Russian non-governmental research organization, Levada Centre, 61% of voters are ready to support the candidacy of the current head of the state, Vladimir Putin, in the elections of the president of the Russian Federation.