Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing his supporters.
An initiative group made up of over 700 politicians and figures from the sporting and cultural worlds met on Saturday in Moscow and unanimously endorsed Putin’s nomination as an independent candidate, Russian news agencies said.
Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister for more than two decades, has announced he will seek another six-year term in March next year in an election he is comfortably expected to win.
Putin will not run as a candidate for the ruling United Russia party even though he has its complete support but as an independent candidate, Andrei Turchak, a senior UR party official, was cited as saying by the RIA news agency.—Reuters
