Members of the Federation Council approved the decision on holding the presidential elections in Russia on March 18, 2018. 

Overall, 60 senators voted for this decision, RBK reports.

The upper house committee on constitutional legislation supported the election day decision the day before. 

According to the head of the Central Electoral Commission Ella Pamfilova, at the moment, 23 people have already expressed their will to run for the president of the Russian Federation, and their number is likely to grow.
 
Last week, the acting president Vladimir Putin announced his intention to run for another term. Pamfilova said that there will be no indulgence for Putin, and the signatures in his support will be carefully checked by the commission.

The leader of the People's Democratic Republic Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the politician Alexei Navalny (the head of the Central Electoral Committee Ella Pamfilova stated that he is not eligible to run for president because of his criminal conviction), Ksenia Sobchak, Grigory Yavlinsky, TV presenter Yekaterina Gordon and businessman Sergey Polonsky announced their intention to run for presidency.