MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. The Russian Central Election Commission has stopped accepting registration paperwork from groups of voters seeking to support self-nominated candidates in the Russian presidential campaign, as the deadline for this passed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

"The deadline for submitting petitions to the CEC of Russia for the registration of voter groups created in support of self-nominated candidates for the Russian presidential campaign passes at 6 p.m. today," the CEC said in a statement posted to Telegram.

Registration of a voter group in support of a candidate doesn’t mean the candidate gets registered as well. A self-nominated candidate is required to collect 300,000 signatures by the end of January.

The election commission will continue to accept registration documents from candidates that were nominated by political parties until 6 p.m. on January 1, 2024. The CEC has until February 10 to process registration requests from all candidates.

Russia is set to hold a presidential election from March 15-17, 2024.