MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Russia’s incumbent head of state Vladimir Putin, who is seeking re-election as an independent candidate, has received a presidential candidate certificate, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) registered Putin as a presidential candidate.
The certificate was handed over to Sergei Kabyshev, the head of the legal unit in Putin’s campaign team.
"Clearly, the candidate certificate has been delivered to the president," Peskov noted.
Putin is the third presidential candidate registered by the CEC. Candidates nominated by parliamentary parties - leader of the of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Communist Party’s candidate Pavel Grudinin - were registered earlier as they did not have to collect voter signatures.
The CEC is expected to register five more candidates - Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko), Boris Titov (Party of Growth), Sergei Baburin (Russian All People’s Union), Ksenia Sobchak (Civil Initiative) and Maxim Suraikin (Communists of Russia).
The Russian presidential election is scheduled to be held on March 18.