2011-05-16 15:26

MOSCOW - Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov may lead a political party that has called for President Dmitry Medvedev to run for a second term, a Russian newspaper said on Monday.

Prokhorov, ranked by Finans magazine as Russia's second richest man with a fortune of $22.7 billion, told colleagues in a letter leaked to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda he was ready to lead the Right Cause party.

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"If those of us who have the means and the desire to live in Russia do not try to change anything then nothing will change," it quoted Prokhorov as saying in the letter.

It also quoted Prokhorov as saying his sister, one of his closest advisers, had suggested he enter politics.

A source close to Prokhorov's ONEXIM investment holding confirmed the existence of the letter but declined further comment. Prokhorov could not immediately be reached.

Asked if Prokhorov would lead Right Cause, party co-chairman Leonid Gozman told Reuters: "I do not exclude it but there are other variants too."

"Our aim is to remove United Russia's monopoly of power," Gozman said by telephone.

If the report is confirmed, Prokhorov would be the most influential Russian businessman openly to support a party that has called for Medvedev to run for a second term.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Medvedev have avoided saying which of them will stand in the presidential vote, although Putin has created a new movement to broaden the base of the ruling party before the December parliamentary election.

Right Cause, which called in November 2010 for Medvedev to run for a second term in the March 2012 presidential election, has no seats in parliament. Its slogan is: "Freedom, Property, Order".

Prokhorov made most of his fortune by selling his one-quarter stake in mining firm Norilsk Nickel just before the 2008 crisis.