"We intend to hold a congress of Different Russia [opposition coalition] in mid-fall to decide on nominating a single candidate," Garry Kasparov told the coalition's second conference in Moscow.
According to Kasparov, regional conferences have to be held to finally formulate single requirements for a presidential candidate from the opposition coalition.
Kasparov therefore rejected media reports that the coalition of opposition parties would name its candidate for Russia's presidency at a conference July 7-8.
By now, former Central Bank chairman Viktor Gerashchenko, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, Mikhail Kasyanov, an ex-prime minister and leader of the Russian People's Democratic Union, and Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party, have announced their plans to run for presidency.
President Vladimir Putin, who has been increasingly criticized in the West for his anti-democratic record but who remains popular within Russia, has repeatedly denied the possibility of his staying in office for a third term, but is widely expected to name "a successor".
