GAIDAR AGAIN TRIES TO UNITE DEMOCRATS.

Yegor Gaidar, leader of Russia’s Democratic Choice, called on Russian democrats over the weekend to start collecting the one million signatures required to nominate Nizhny Novgorod Governor Boris Nemtsov as a presidential candidate. Gaidar proposed Nemtsov should run on a "joint ticket" by undertaking to appoint Grigory Yavlinsky as his prime minister. (11) Yavlinsky’s reaction to the proposal was not immediately known but, in a television interview, Nemtsov said he (Nemtsov) had not given Gaidar permission to propose him as president and had no plans to run. (12) Meanwhile, activists of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have already collected 1.4 million signatures in support of Gennady Zyuganov, expected to be nominated as that party’s candidate when it meets Thursday. Zyuganov has also gathered the support of several smaller Communist groups, the Agrarian Party, and some nationalist groups.

Zhirinovsky Celebrates Silver Wedding in Style…