title: Russia's Putin registers re-election bid
text: MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin formally registered his re-election bid on Wednesday, submitting the necessary documents to Russia s central election commission in person ahead of a March 18 vote.  Polls show that Putin, who has dominated Russia s political landscape for the last 17 years as either president or prime minister, is on course to comfortably win another six-year term. That would allow him to rule until 2024, when he ll turn 72. The former KGB officer is running as an independent, a move seen as a way of strengthening his image as a  father of the nation  rather than as a party political figure. The ruling United Russia party and the Just Russia party have both said they will support him. Allies laud Putin for restoring national pride and expanding Moscow s global clout with interventions in Syria and Ukraine. But opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been barred from the election over a suspended prison sentence he says was fabricated, says Putin has been in power too long and that his support is artificially maintained by a biased state media and an unfair system which excludes genuine opponents.  Navalny has called for a boycott of the election, raising the prospect of large-scale protests and clashes with the police. 