Kasparov won't run for Russia president

By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 13, 2:18 PM ET

MOSCOW - The Kremlin appears to have checkmated chess genius Garry Kasparov, eliminating the internationally known figure from the presidential race.

Kasparov said Thursday his bid collapsed because supporters were blocked from renting a meeting hall to nominate him — part of President Vladimir Putin's campaign, he said, to snuff out any viable opposition and turn Russia's March 2 ballot into a virtual one-man contest.

The move makes it impossible for Kasparov to challenge Putin's chosen successor as a candidate. But even if his supporters had nominated him, Kasparov would have faced formidable barriers, such as a Putin-era law forcing independent candidates to gather 2 million signatures — nearly one out of 50 Russian voters — for a spot on the ballot.

Kasparov has said that requirement would be impossible to fulfill.

"We all knew I wasn't running ... because we don't have an election," Kasparov told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It just shows that this game is fake at each stage."

The former chess champion, dressed in a dark suit, looked exhausted but determined as he stood between two burly bodyguards.

Under Russian law, independent candidates can run for president only if a group of at least 500 supporters meets formally to vote on the nomination. Thursday was the deadline for notifying the Central Election Commission of such a meeting.

Members of the Other Russia coalition, which Kasparov helps lead, say the managers of meeting halls and auditoriums refused to rent to them. Kasparov said he believed the managers were ordered not to let the meeting take place.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the AP the accusations were absurd.

"The Kremlin isn't involved in renting out halls, and blaming the Kremlin in any way in this case would be considered illegitimate," he said.

Authorities kept up the pressure on Kasparov and his allies Thursday. Police halted buses carrying dozens of Other Russia supporters on the outskirts of Moscow as they headed for the wake of 22-year-old Yuri Chervochkin.

Chervochkin died earlier this month, allegedly as a result of a police beating at an opposition protest in November.

The activists were later released, and arrived at the ceremony escorted by dozens of police, said Sergei Aksenov, a participant. Mourners included Kasparov and the nationalist author Eduard Limonov, leader of the opposition National Bolshevik Party.

"One can talk about a systematic, harsh, physical persecution of my supporters in Russia," Limonov told Ekho Moskvy radio.

Denis Bilunov, an activist with Kasparov's United Civil Front, said the wake was tense, as riot police stood by, smirking and talking, while mourners remembered Chervochkin.

"It was absolutely a disgrace the way they acted," Bilunov said.

Lionized in the West, Kasparov is respected in Russia for his reputation as one of the greatest chess players who ever lived but he is not an influential figure.

After retiring from chess in 2005, Kasparov helped form the Other Russia coalition, a disparate grouping of nationalists, left-wing activists and liberals.

But the coalition has been ignored in the state-controlled media, and has drawn little sympathy from ordinary Russians, who are grateful for the country's nearly decade-long economic boom.

Putin is credited with creating stability after the chaotic years of Boris Yeltsin's presidency. Many Russians seem willingly to overlook the government's crackdown on the media, independent political figures and maverick business tycoons.

Other Russia has staged opposition rallies in Moscow and elsewhere over the past year, but police have violently disrupted most of them. Kasparov was jailed for five days after a rally in Moscow last month.

Kasparov's wife and daughter, meanwhile, reportedly were detained at St. Petersburg's airport Wednesday as they tried to board an international flight. They were released after the flight departed, according to United Civil Front.

Border guards said the pair were delayed because the daughter had no exit visa, Interfax reported.

Putin said Monday he would support Dmitry Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister, as his successor — an endorsement that effectively guarantees Medvedev's election. Medvedev a day later called on Putin to become prime minister after the March 2 vote.

Putin has not yet responded. If he accepts, it could make it possible for him to retain control of Russia's political system after his term ends in May.

More than two dozen candidates may eventually joint the presidential contest, including firebrand nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Putin supporter.

Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia party nominated him Thursday. Neither he nor any other of the other well-known candidates is expected to seriously challenge Medvedev.

Patriarch Alexy II, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, said a Putin-Medvedev team "would be a great blessing for Russia."

In an interview on state television, Alexy praised Putin as "selfless" and urged him to become prime minister "for the good of Russia and the good of the people."

___

Associated Press Writer Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report.