The Russian Communist Party leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, threw down the gauntlet yesterday to acting President Vladimir Putin, saying he would challenge the odds-on favourite in the March presidential polls.
Mr Zyuganov, who lost to the former president, Mr Boris Yeltsin, in a bitterly-contested 1996 presidential run-off, will campaign under the banner of Russia's "patriotic forces". This is an amalgam of left-wingers and nationalists who have dominated parliament for six years.
"I gratefully accepted this offer," Interfax quoted Mr Zyuganov (55) as saying after he was nominated to be the Communist candidate. "Our `For Victory' movement has a strong team and solid support."
The announcement ended talk of the former prime minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, spearheading a centre-left drive for the Kremlin, backed by his Fatherland-All Russia alliance (OVR), the Communists and their allies.
Last summer Mr Primakov was a leading contender to replace Mr Boris Yeltsin. But his hopes melted with the astonishing rise of Mr Putin, whose tough handling of the hugely popular Chechnya war has given the former KGB spy an unassailable lead in opinion polls.
Mr Yeltsin's shock resignation on Friday last was aimed to make Mr Putin, the 68-year-old leader's anointed successor, a certainty for the Presidency by catching all other pretenders off guard.
Reading the writing on the wall, the All Russia half of the OVR alliance, a grouping of influential regional governors, abruptly abandoned Mr Primakov on Wednesday and threw their weight behind Mr Putin.
Five men are vying for the right to rule Russia, a contest which will climax in a first round of voting on March 26th.
April 16th has been set for the run-off ballot, although some analysts believe Mr Putin could win a four-year term at the first attempt.
The other three declared candidates are: Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, of the liberal opposition Yabloko faction, the ultranationalist Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and Mr Aman Tuleyev, the left-wing governor of Siberia's Kemerovo district, who also declared his candidacy yesterday.
The Communists had been split over who to support in the March polls. Parliamentary elections on December 19th saw the left lose its grip on the State Duma (lower house of parliament).
Mr Putin's approval rating in opinion polls stands at around 60 per cent, nearly triple that of Mr Zyuganov. The disparity has raised concerns that the Kremlin election has been launched on an uneven playing field.
Mr Alexander Veshnyakov, who announced strict rules for the conduct of the campaign, urged the media not to repeat the mud-slinging which marred the Duma election last month. And he fired a shot across Mr Putin's bows by saying: "Any abuse of power would be inadmissible."
Analysts suggest that only a disastrous turn of events in Chechnya could derail the Putin juggernaut and prevent the acting President from securing the job on a permanent basis.
Bad weather and fierce resistance by rebels in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and southern mountains yesterday slowed the Russian advance in the separatist republic.
Russia's senior civilian envoy to Chechnya, Mr Nikolai Koshman, said that seizing Grozny, where between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians remained trapped with little food or firewood, has turned out to be much harder than expected.
"It was scheduled to be liberated earlier," he said, adding that generals had to go slowly to limit Russian military losses in the face of what he called "fierce resistance from the doomed."
Russian news agencies said Mr Putin had appointed Russia's former ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mr Alexander Blokhin, as his nationalities minister.
Mr Blokhin and Mr Putin favour crushing the rebels, whom they call "bandits", quickly and decisively.
Russia says that about 500 soldiers and Interior Ministry troops have died since the military entered Chechnya at the end of September. Critics say the true figure may be higher. Both sides say they are inflicting heavy losses on their enemies.
Authorities in Ingushetia have told the UN refugee agency that 70,000 Chechens who fled the fighting have returned to Russian-controlled northern areas of the republic. Mr Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UNHCR, said there was no evidence that the refugees had been forced back to Chechnya. - (Reuters)
In Bethlehem yesterday Mr Yeltsin pledged Russia's continued support for a full Palestinian state and predicted fighting in Chechnya would end soon.
Mr Yeltsin, visiting the Holy Land to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, made his commitment on Palestine after talks with the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Earlier he celebrated Russia's relationship with Israel during a lunch hosted by the Israeli President, Ezer Weizman, and said Moscow wanted to help along the Middle East peace process.