The FT talks with former premier Mikhail Kasyanov, who says that the Kremlin inner circle is planning on using the upcoming elections to “usurp power” and return Russia to “de facto one-party rule.”

Mikhail Kasyanov, premier for four years before Mr Putin sacked him in 2004 and now an opposition presidential hopeful, said the elections could not be democratic, as new rules had made it impossible for parties not approved by the Kremlin to participate.