Russian former PM will run for president

MOSCOW, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister of Russia, has announced he will run for president in 2008 when Vladimir Putin's term in office expires.

The announcement is likely to anger the Kremlin, as Putin has said he feels it his duty to select a successor, The Moscow Times reported Thursday.

Kasyanov, 47, who in February had hinted he might run, said Wednesday evening in an interview on the Ekho Moskvy radio station: "My answer now is yes. The absence of any positive change has convinced me."

In February 2004, Putin fired Kasyanov, who had been in the post for four years, along with the entire Cabinet. Kasyanov was seen as being close to Russian business oligarchs and had grown increasingly critical of the Kremlin.

In July, the prosecutor general's office opened an investigation into his acquisition of a former state-owned villa. The corruption probe was widely seen as a Kremlin warning to Kasyanov to stay out of politics.

Kasyanov Wednesday called the allegations "political and groundless."

He said he was working to unite leading democratic-minded political movements and felt optimistic about the prospects for unification.