Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet decided if he will run for president in 2018, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

“It’s basically not accepted that one talks about elections two years [before they happen], and it’s still quite a ways until the beginning of election campaigns. I don’t even know if Putin is planning on running again or not, but regardless in any case…the mudslinging campaign has already begun. But this doesn’t mean the president has made any sort of decision,” Peskov told journalists.

Peskov said that the United States has already started its campaigning in Russian elections without even knowing if Putin will participate in them.

“As a whole, it could be said that on the backdrop of the unprecedented remarks from an official from the US Department of Treasury, we see that preparations for our elections have already started across the ocean. Presidential elections in Russia are still far off, more than two years, but preparation, it seems, have begun. It’s clear that negativity is being collected in regard to the head of our state, and of course this is used to apply pressure and influence on the future election campaign,” Peskov added.IOL