Soviet dissident opens long-shot bid for Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky launched a long-shot bid for the Russian presidency on Sunday, accusing Russia's state security services of trying to hobble his campaign from the start.

More than 800 people queued in freezing weather to register their support for the British-based Bukovsky at the small human rights Sakharov museum in Moscow after another bigger venue was cancelled -- under pressure from FSB state security, he said.

"I am terribly sorry it had to be done in such a way. We wanted a large hall. We arranged it so people would be comfortable, but the FSB intervened and cancelled it," he told Reuters.

Under Russian law, presidential candidates without parliamentary backers must first register at least 500 supporters, then they must collect 2 million signatures nationwide before they get on to the ballot paper.

Even if he manages to get to that stage, Bukovsky and his supporters acknowledge he stands little or no chance in the March 2 poll which is almost certain to result in the election of President Vladimir Putin's anointed heir, Dmitry Medvedev.

But Bukovsky, 65, who spent 13 years in and out of labor camps in the Soviet era, believes Medvedev could be defeated in the March poll if it is fair, and he says he is ready to drop out in favor of a single, agreed opposition candidate.

Referring to the December 2 parliamentary vote, which was dominated by Putin's party, he said:

"My feeling is that the Duma elections were so falsified - United Russia didn't get more than 30 percent, according to our information ... My main mission is to return to people their sovereignty. They should be citizens, not subjects."

Against the backdrop of an exhibition detailing Soviet-era repression in a museum named after Soviet dissident icon Andrei Sakharov, Bukovsky's supporters showed proof of identity, signed his petition and gave a small donation for his campaign.

Some of his supporters were not confident of victory, but believed they should at least give Bukovsky a chance to put his name forward.

In Soviet times, Bukovsky exposed the role of psychiatric hospitals in silencing critics before being deported to Britain in 1976, where he has since lived.

"NO PERSONAL INTEREST"

Bukovsky says the Kremlin is frightened of him. He said though he was prepared to withdraw his candidacy if the liberal opposition put up a single candidate, he hoped to persuade Garry Kasparov's Other Russia movement and the anti-Kremlin Yabloko party to back him.

"Bukovksy never had a personal interest in this post. He's only thinking about the people and the country," Ilya Yeshin, the leader of Yabloko youth said.

"I'm here to show moral support for him but of course we don't think he will run as a candidate or indeed win the election."

Russia's Communists will field leader Gennady Zyuganov to run against Medvedev. With a significant representation in parliament, they do not have to undergo the same complex process to register him.

Another opposition party, the SPS, will decide on Monday whether or not to run in the election.

The latest poll from the independent Levada centre suggests that if Medvedev is the sole Putin-endorsed candidate as expected, he could win 63 percent, though the poll did not factor in any united opposition candidate contesting the vote.