Russian President Vladimir Putin (65) announced, on December 6, that he will in fact be running in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for March 18, 2018. His main potential opponents from the official Duma opposition parties (the Communist party boss Gennady Zyuganov and the flamboyant nationalist demagogue Vladimir Zhirinovsky) have acknowledged him as the leading or “absolute” favorite (RIA Novosti, December 6). Next year's election will probably be more of a coronation than a democratic campaign, with Putin's opponents accepting defeat well beforehand.
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