Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has unanimously approved the resolution setting the presidential election for March 18, 2018. The resolution will be published within the next five days, and the electoral campaign will be officially launched. Political parties will convene pre-election congresses, while independent candidates will start setting up their support groups. At least 23 people have declared their wish to run for president in the 2018 election, TASS quoted the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, as saying.