ST. PETERSBURG, January 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not participate in election debates, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"The president is not participating in election debates," the Kremlin spokesman said when asked about Putin's plans to take part in them.

Peskov suggested addressing questions about Putin receiving a presidential candidate's certificate to the election headquarters.

"There is a headquarters, there is its chief," he said.

Earlier today, the Central Election Commission (CEC) registered the incumbent head of state as a self-nominated candidate. Putin became a fourth registered candidate; earlier the CEC registered representatives of three parliamentary parties - Leonid Slutsky (of the LDPR), Vladislav Davankov (of New People) and Nikolay Kharitonov (of the CPRF).

For Putin, the upcoming elections will be a fifth in his political career. Before that he was elected head of state four times (2000, 2004, 2012 and 2018). His best result was in 2018, when he raked 76.69% of the votes

Russia’s presidential election is due on March 15-17.