Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies have reported, citing his supporters.
An initiative group made up of over 700 politicians and figures from the sporting and cultural worlds met on Saturday in Moscow and unanimously endorsed Putin's nomination as an independent candidate, Russian news agencies said.
Putin, who has held power as either president or prime minister for more than two decades, has announced his intention to seek another six-year term in the upcoming March election.
Putin will not run as a candidate for the ruling United Russia (UR) party even though he has its complete support but as an independent candidate, Andrei Turchak, a senior UR party official, was cited as saying by the RIA news agency.
"More than 3.5 million party members and supporters will actively take part in the election campaign," RIA quoted Turchak as saying, noting that Putin had been one of the founders of United Russia.
Sergei Mironov, a senior politician from the Just Russia party who supports Putin, was also quoted by RIA as saying Putin would run as an independent and that signatures would be gathered in his support.
Supporters of Putin say he has restored order, national pride, and some of the clout Russia lost during the chaos of the Soviet collapse and that the war in Ukraine —something Putin calls a "special military operation" — is justified.
