Presidential candidate says she may abandon bid

Russian presidential candidate Irina Khakamada has declared that she might drop out of the presidential race.

According to her statement, she believes that the main violation of the election legislation has been the refusal of the Russian Central Election Commission to satisfy her and Communist candidate Nikolay Kharitonov's appeal. As reported earlier, they demanded the same period of live broadcast that was spent to cover a meeting of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin with his electioneerers on February 12.

"If the current situation does not change, I do not rule out the possibility that I will withdraw from the presidential elections," she declared. According to her, other opposition candidates should act in the same way.