FILE PHOTO: A man stands outside the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia, September 30, 2015. . REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The upper house of the Russian parliament voted on Friday to set March 18 as the date of next year’s presidential election.

The decision was approved by the Russian senators unanimously, speaker Valentina Matvienko said after the vote.