World

Putin Appearance at Sevastopol Rally Not Linked to Upcoming Election - Kremlin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The rally in the city of Sevastopol that Russian President Vladimir Putin is about to attend is not connected to the upcoming presidential election and is not a campaign event, the Kremlin spokesman said Wednesday.
Sputnik

"[Putin] will talk to the members of the public in Sevastopol, discuss the issues that are important for the city and participate in the rally celebrating the anniversary of the referendum on the reunification [of Crimea] with Russia. Let me stress: this is not a campaign event this is a rally not connected to the presidential election," Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin is currently on a visit to the south of Russia, with his agenda including the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea and Sevastopol, in particular.

READ MORE: Crimea Open to Int'l Monitors at Presidential Vote — Russian Election Commission

The referendum on the reunification was held on the peninsula on March 16, 2014 and resulted in over 90 percent of the residents voting to rejoin Russia.

The election will be held this Sunday. The Russian will choose from eight candidates: Sergey Baburin from the All-People's Union party, Putin, running as an independent, Civil Initiative party candidate Ksenia Sobchak, Communists of Russia party chairman Maxim Suraykin, Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov, co-founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky and head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Discuss