 The initiative group included 668 people, among them the former Minister of Economics Alexander Shokhin, hockey player Alexander Karelin, Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichy, Director of Bakulev Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery Leo Boqueria, Senator and Secretary-General of United Russia Andrey Turchak, the President of Support of Russia Alexander Kalinin, co-founder of Kaspersky Lab Natalya Kaspersky, leader of the party A Just Russia Sergey Mironov, as well as members of the State Duma and senators.On 27 December 2017, Putin submitted documents for participation in the elections to the Central Election Commission.On 28 December, the CEC registered the initiative group and allowed him to start collecting signatures.