Russian opposition hit out at "KGB" power handover

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition leaders complained of violations in the conduct of Sunday's presidential election, which is expected to be won with a wide margin by the Kremlin's candidate Dmitry Medvedev.

The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev damned Medvedev with faint praise as he cast his ballot, voicing doubts about the electoral process.

"I think he is a well-prepared, educated and modern. He has good experience as a lawyer, he's bright, but there is one drawback, he didn't work at the federal level long enough," said Gorbachev, who lost power after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev said the standard of Sunday's presidential vote was "better than the last one, but far from what it should be."

Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov, whom pollsters tip to come a distant second to Medvedev, complained of problems with the election in Russia's Far East.

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of violations," said Zyuganov, who also complained of widespread fraud after December's parliamentary vote.

"I am amazed that some regional governors yesterday spoke and called voters to support the party of power," Zyuganov said.

Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, now an opposition figure, had his application to run in the elections blocked.

"This is a secret service KGB operation to transfer power from one person to another. It has nothing to do with elections," Kasyanov told Reuters in Moscow's Red Square.

"There are no winners, but the losers are 140 million Russians and the Russian Federation with its reputation in the international arena."

Near Red Square, but blocked from entering it by police, former chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov and a group of supporters held up banners saying: "not involved in this farce!"

"All Russian law is being violated. The authorities have liquidated the election in this country. It is now necessary to start a campaign to recognize it as illegitimate," Kasparov said. He had decided last year not to run in protest.

The complaints were dismissed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who pointed to the high turnout as evidence of public enthusiasm for Medvedev.

"The forecast is quite high which speaks of the active political participation of the people of Russia and many of them are choosing to vote for a continuation of the changes in the country," Peskov told Reuters.

Peskov warned against drawing general conclusions about the conduct of the election, saying specific allegations should be investigated by the Central Electoral Commission.

-- For more on Russia's presidential election, please see our blog "Operation Successor" at blogs.reuters.com/russia

(Additional reporting by Chris Baldwin; Editing by Matthew Jones)