Vladimir Putin to seek re-election as president of Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has started campaigning for March’s presidential election as a number of challengers hoping to oust the Russian leader vow to run against him.

Putin presented his vision for modernising the country on Saturday while some of his challengers in the presidential election were formally nominated for the race.

Putin is running as an independent candidate, keeping a distance from the top Kremlin party, United Russia, which consists mostly of officials and has been dogged by corruption allegations against some of its top members.

Speaking at United Russia’s congress, Putin pledged to offer broader incentives for business, fight corruption and pour extra resources into the underfunded health care and education system.

Russia is a country with a 1000-year history, but we mustn’t treat her like our grandmother, just giving her pills to relieve her pain,” he said in a speech televised live.

We must make Russia young, aimed into the future.

With his approval ratings topping 80 per cent, the 65-year-old Mr Putin is set to easily win another six-year term in the March 18 vote.

His most visible opponent, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is barred from the race by an embezzlement conviction he calls politically motivated.

Nevertheless, the 41-year-old anti-corruption crusader has run a year-long grassroots campaign and staged waves of rallies to push the Kremlin to let him run.

Mr Navalny has threatened to organise a campaign for boycotting the vote, which would be an embarrassment to the Kremlin, which is worried about voter apathy and focused on boosting turnout to make Putin’s victory more impressive.