Putin Says Speaking of His Participation in 2018 Presidential Election Premature

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that it was still too early to talk about his potential participation in Russian presidential election scheduled for 2018.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — When reporters reminded the president that about six months ago he said the time had not come to announce whether he would run in 2018 and asked the president if the time was right to talk about it now, Putin replied that it is still premature.

The Russian president was holding a press conference at the end of his visit to China.

May 7, 2017 marks the fifth anniversary of the day when Vladimir Putin became Russian President for the third time.

The question of Putin's participation in the next presidential election, which will be held in 2018, remains open. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier noted that the issue is not yet on the Kremlin agenda.