MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Russia's election campaign has not yet been announced, but many potential candidates meet the criteria, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told the media.
"A different number of candidates may appear. Our Constitution stipulates who can run for president. Many meet these criteria," Peskov said.
At the same time, he emphasized that "the election campaign has not been announced yet."
Commenting on reports that Boris Nadezhdin, a former State Duma member from the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and a member of the council of deputies in the Moscow Region’s town of Dolgoprudny, has agreed to run for president from the Civil Initiative party, thus becoming the first known contender for the country's top post, Peskov said that de jure "there is no first candidate yet."
"The first candidate will appear after he is registered," the Kremlin spokesman explained.