Conley
12-12-2011, 12:53 PM
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has said he will challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in next March's presidential election.
Mr Prokhorov said it was "the most serious decision" of his life.
Saturday saw Russia's biggest demonstration in years by protesters calling for fresh parliamentary polls over alleged voting fraud.
Mr Putin's party, United Russia, barely scraped a majority in the elections held earlier this month.
"I have made the most serious decision of my life. I am running for president," Mr Prokhorov said at a news conference.
Mr Prokhorov said he would not build his presidential campaign on criticism of Mr Putin.
"Criticism must make up no more than 10%… I would like to focus on the things I would do," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16138739
This will make for an interesting race. Not sure if Prokhorov's billions will help but probably...money is money anywhere. That is assuming Putin doesn't go hard core KGB on him. This guy is a bit of a global mogul, even owns his own National Basketball Association team, the New Jersey Nets (Mister D is a huge fan :grin:)
Mr Prokhorov said it was "the most serious decision" of his life.
Saturday saw Russia's biggest demonstration in years by protesters calling for fresh parliamentary polls over alleged voting fraud.
Mr Putin's party, United Russia, barely scraped a majority in the elections held earlier this month.
"I have made the most serious decision of my life. I am running for president," Mr Prokhorov said at a news conference.
Mr Prokhorov said he would not build his presidential campaign on criticism of Mr Putin.
"Criticism must make up no more than 10%… I would like to focus on the things I would do," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16138739
This will make for an interesting race. Not sure if Prokhorov's billions will help but probably...money is money anywhere. That is assuming Putin doesn't go hard core KGB on him. This guy is a bit of a global mogul, even owns his own National Basketball Association team, the New Jersey Nets (Mister D is a huge fan :grin:)