Vladimir Putin will find sparring partners in the presidential elections. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky promised that his party would nominate a candidate. Gennady Zyuganov or Gennady Semigin will be nominated by the CPRF. The Rodina bloc is also preparing a "reserve" candidate. Vladimir Bryntsalov, a loser in the 1996 elections, has also notified the Central Election Commission of his presidential ambitions.

LDPR Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced yesterday that his party would definitely take part in the presidential elections. The LDPR congress will take place on Friday, and, according to a source close to the party's leadership, Zhirinovsky will be nominated as a presidential candidate. The leader of the Liberal Democrats himself modestly kept silent yesterday about the name of the "LDPR candidate", but expressed the wish that he would receive no fewer votes than the LDPR did in the State Duma elections (11.45%). At the same time, according to Zhirinovsky, Vladimir Putin is a "strong candidate" and will not need a second round to win.

Stanislav Belkovsky, Director General of the National Strategy Council, nevertheless estimates the probability of Zhirinovsky's nomination at 50%. The political scientist admits that the LDPR leader could be "slowed down" since his electorate overlaps with Putin's electorate.

The CPRF congress will take place on Sunday. The party leadership has not yet decided on a presidential candidate. The most likely candidate is the chairman of the CPRF Central Committee Gennady Zyuganov. However, the secretary of the CPRF Central Committee Sergei Potapov told Interfax yesterday that the party may refrain from nominating its own candidate and support a left-wing independent candidate.

The chairman of the executive committee of the People's Patriotic Union of Russia (NPSR), former businessman Gennady Semigin, has already spoken about his possible nomination. He has already been elected as a State Duma deputy twice from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and in the previous composition he held the post of vice-speaker of the chamber from the Agrarian Group. At the end of last year, a scandal erupted when the editors-in-chief of the patriotic newspapers Zavtra and Sovetskaya Rossiya, Aleksandr Prokhanov and Valentin Chikin, publicly accused Semigin of being an "agent of the Kremlin" and engaged in "sabotage". A source close to the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation told Vedomosti that Semigin had been one of the sponsors of the communists for several years and has many supporters among the federal and regional leaders of the party. In particular, he calls the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valentin Kuptsov and Potapov Semigin's allies. Semigin was included in the draft election list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation only as a candidate in the single-mandate Khakassia district. However, at the party congress on September 6, at the insistence of some delegates, one place in the federal group of the list was vacated, which, following the results of the rating vote, went to Semigin. He was ultimately elected to the Duma in the Khakassia district, where he was supported by the structures of "Russian Aluminum".

"Semigin is working with the heads of regional party organizations and congress delegates," says a source close to the CPRF leadership. "It is very likely that he will try to achieve his nomination for president and even head the party." It was not possible to contact Semigin yesterday.

The People's Patriotic Union "Rodina", on the basis of which the bloc of the same name was created, has not yet decided on the date of its congress. But one of the leaders of "Rodina", Sergei Glazyev, has already announced that he will not be a presidential candidate. According to a source close to the leadership of "Rodina", the second leader of the union, Dmitry Rogozin, will not run for president either. But "Rodina" is still preparing a "reserve candidate". "The presidential administration asked to prepare a candidate from "Rodina" - apparently in case Putin has few rivals", - says the source. Alexei Makarkin from the Center for Political Technologies believes that the nomination of a candidate from "Rodina" will take place if Putin does not have a rival from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

But yesterday it became known that Vladimir Bryntsalov, a member of United Russia and founder of the company Bryntsalov A, which owns the pharmaceutical plant Ferein, notified the Central Election Commission of his desire to run for president. He was twice elected to the State Duma from the Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, but lost the last election to businessman Sergei Sobko, who was supported by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In 1996, Bryntsalov participated in the presidential elections, gaining only 0.16% of the votes and taking the last place among 11 candidates.

Putin is looking for competitors