Putin was officially nominated as a presidential candidate

Russian President Vladimir Putin was officially nominated for the election of the head of state in 2018.

In the collection of the initiative group, which took place in Moscow at VDNH, about 600 people participated. Among them, in addition to officials, the ballet dancer Nikolai Tsiscaridze, director Vladimir Khotinenko, actors Mikhail Boyarsky and Vladimir Mashkov, designer Valentin Yudashkin, pianist Denis Matsuev, residents of Comedy Club Garik Kharlamov and Mikhail Galustyan, Soviet hockey player Vladislav Tretyak and the world of mixed martial arts Fedor Emelyanenko. Before the meeting, its participants were shown the film of Oliver Stone Putin and the film by Alexei Pimanov "Crimea" .

Putin was not in his nomination. In the Kremlin, the absence of the president at the meeting of the initiative group in his support was previously explained by the "workload of the schedule." According to state news agencies, at the time of his nomination, Putin "summed up the results of the year" at a meeting with government members. Before that, he met with the children who came to the Kremlin Christmas tree. The head of state, in particular, told the children that it is easy for him to manage Russia. “Because there are children like you like you,” Putin said.

Putin and children. Moscow, December 26, 2017

Putin is 65 years old. He has been led by Russia since the end of 1999. He spent 13 years as president of the country, four more years as the head of the Russian government.