Rival puts Puting in a tough spot

Mass demonstrations and the rival candidacy of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov are jeopardising Putin's plan to heave himself back into power as president in the upcoming elections, writes Ivo Indjev in his blog: "Putin's hope that imprisoning Mikhail Khodorkovsky would scare off political rivals is a thing of the past. Yesterday Mikhail Prokhorov was the first to assume the role of the battering ram. Prochorov, also a billionaire, also young, intelligent and an ambitious new-generation Russian, declared his intention to join the race for the presidency. ... What's more, he wants to team up with Alexei Kudrin, the former Russian finance minister who knows the system like the back of his hand. Together with the mass protests that adds up to three attacks in just a few days. This political snowball still has ten times that much to grow before the parliamentary elections on March 4.  It's still too early to write the darling of Russia's power-mongers off completely but one thing is clear: Being Vladimir Putin is not what it used to be."

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