Putin says hasn't decided if he would run in 2018 election

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he has not decided on whether he would run for presidency again in 2018.

"I haven't decided whether I'm going to run at all. Because by law, I think the presidential election campaign will be officially announced at the end of November, beginning of December," Putin said at the Russian Energy Week Forum.

"No, I have not only not decided against whom I would run, I have not decided whether I would run at all. By that point, I believe that the main contenders will probably come out and state their intentions as well as their election programmes," Putin stated.

In early June, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that this issue was not on the Kremlin's agenda.

Putin admitted that he once met United States President Donald Trump, but said he has no personal ties with the U.S. leader.

"We have almost no personal relationship. We saw each other just once. Yes, we had a couple of phone conversations on various issues of mutual interest, including Syria," Putin said.

Further said,"I do hope that the fundamental mutual interests - which are the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, combating cyber-crime, energy cooperation, cooperation in addressing regional conflicts, anti-terrorism - will ultimately change the nature of Russian-American relations for the better," the Moscow Times reported Putin, as saying.

Putin also said that the global military strike against North Korea to destroy its nuclear and missile programme might not succeed because no one knows where the military facilities are hidden.