Russian Communist Party leader to run for president

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.

“A chosen leader who heads a party should be ready to accomplish such tasks. I am ready to accomplish this task,” the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies quoted Zyuganov as saying.

Speculation has been high that Putin might use the main pro-Kremlin party’s domination in the parliament to amend Russia’s constitution to allow him to seek a third presidential term.

Putin has repeatedly said, however, that he would not seek a third term.