Moscow, 16 May: The well-known political scientist Dmitriy Oreshkin believes that former Russian Central Bank head Viktor Gerashchenko could be the best possible presidential candidate for the opposition in the 2008 Russian presidential elections.

"In my opinion, Gerashchenko is the best candidate who could compete against a (Kremlin-picked) successor, whoever that may be. Of course, you can't rule out that his declaration about intending to stand for president is some kind of game, but he is a serious person, an experienced and unsentimental fighter, and he knows what he's talking about," Oreshkin told Interfax today.

Opposition representatives said that Gerashchenko had announced his intention to stand for Russian president yesterday (15 May), but Gerashchenko, meanwhile, refused to confirm or deny this information.

Commenting on Gerashchenko's chances, Oreshkin said that "traditionally, one speaks of candidates' electoral chances, but de facto it is not decided by the electorate themselves, but rather by the balance of interests between elite groups of influence".

"From this point of view, if we say the oppositionist (National Bolshevik leader) Eduard Limonov has no chance whatsoever, and (former Russian Prime Minister) Mikhail Kasyanov has some chance, then Gerashchenko has twice as much chance as Kasyanov," said Oreshkin.

He explained this by the fact that "Kasyanov's image, in many people's eyes, is a link to the Yeltsin era, to the 'privatizors', and this means the interests of various business elites".

"Kasyanov may indeed be great, and a very effective prime minister, but you can't get away from the image that has been created for him. Meanwhile, Gerashchenko, as an absolutely competent specialist, has not worked for any influence group, it's hard to make accusations against him, he hasn't spoilt his relations with the business elites, nor the regional or security elites. Only the Kremlin elite is firmly set against Gerashchenko," said Oreshkin.

"Gerashchenko is a centrist in the best sense of the word, but at the same time he is entirely acceptable for the nationalist camp too," he added.

Overall, Oreshkin believes that "Gerashchenko could become a bad headache for the Kremlin strategists, and they will try to scare him, to wipe him out of public opinion, although in his case it will be hard to pin anything on him, since in Soviet times he was self-sufficient, and he can't be accused of stealing anything of privatizing a state dacha".

"Basically, Gerashchenko's only disadvantage is that he's 70 years old, but history contains many examples of people at that age being entirely useful and effective upon becoming heads of state: this includes both (former US President) Ronald Reagan and (former French President Charles) de Gaulle," concluded Oreshkin.