MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday set March 17 as the date for a presidential election which is expected to be another shoo-in for Vladimir Putin, who has silenced opposition during over two decades in power.

In a meeting broadcast live on Russian television, the upper house of parliament unanimously approved the date of the vote.

The decision “practically kicks off the presidential campaign,” said the head of the chamber, Valentina Matvienko. Putin, a former KGB agent who has been in power in Russia either as president or prime minister since 1999, has not officially announced if he will stand in the vote for another six-year mandate.

“So far there have been no statements by Putin, so let’s be patient here,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked about whether the president planned to run. Putin, 71, is due to hold an end-of-year press conference next week, where he could announce his candidacy.