Vladimir Putin received a rapturous reaction from a Moscow crowd when asked whether he planned to run again for president, hours before he announced his nomination. Putin was taking part a Q&A session on stage at the Russian Volunteer Forum in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon, an event for which a youthful audience of 20,000 had gathered from across the country. During one of the questions, he was asked about his plans to participate in the 2018 election. “A person’s motivation for taking such a decision can only be a desire to improve the lives of the country’s citizens. And this can only be done with the people’s support,” answered Putin during the nationally televised broadcast.