Mr Putin in a speech to over 10,000 delegates packed into a Moscow stadium, was repeatedly interrupted by football-style chants of his name, as he laid out his credentials.
A crude nationalism coursed through Mr Putin's speech to the assembled faithful, and on several occasion he led the crowd in chants of "Russia! Russia!" He said that unspecified, nefarious foreign countries trying to influence Russia's elections were "throwing money to the wind," and added that Western countries should focus instead on paying off their own debts.
