Russian voters were expected to endorse Vladimir Putin’s choice of a successor in today’s presidential election, allowing Mr Putin to retain a measure of power in his nation whose wealth and global voice have grown even as democratic freedoms diminished.

The most vocal Kremlin critic in Russia’s presidential contest was barred from the ballot today by election authorities who said tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating petitions were faked.

A senior official in Serbia’s Socialist Party said today that none of Slobodan Milosevic’s Moscow-based family will attend his funeral tomorrow, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russian Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov today became the first prominent politician to throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential election, a poll in which President Vladimir Putin is constitutionally barred from running.

Russia’s Communist Party chief today launched his harshest attack against President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of betraying the country to the West, ruining the national economy and driving people to poverty.