Intriguing news has been confirmed this morning: multi billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is interested in becoming the leader of the Right Cause party, the political organization which, in November 2010, called for a second term for President Medvedev.  The news must come as a major boost for the President, given that much analysis of recent weeks has focused on Medvedev’s sidelining ahead of the 2012 election and a drive towards the increasing hegemony of Putin and United Russia.  Perhaps it simply a coincidence that at a meeting with lawyers on Friday, in which the President expressed concerns about over concentration of power in a lone individual, he also added that, to quote the Moscow Times, ‘a presidential republic is the only form of government fit for the country’, and to do this, ‘the president should become a party member’, which would be an unprecedented move in the country’s post-Soviet existence.  The race for the Presidency, it would seem, is far from being a fait accompli.  The news does also beg the question, to what does the President owe this boon?  Reuters reports:

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.

“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.