By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The stand-off between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and anti-government protesters may escalate into a civil war, billionaire presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov has said.
Acknowledging that “Putin has achievements”, Prokhorov said: “I’m for Russia with Putin, but also for Russia with writer Boris Akunin and blogger Alexei Navalny, who demand Putin’s resignation.”
“If opposing parties fail to move toward each other, the worst case scenario is a civil war,” he said in an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel.
Prokhorov will run against Putin and three others in the March 4 presidential polls.
The businessman, whose fortune is estimated at $18 billion, urged “evolution, not revolution” and promised sweeping political and economic reforms if he wins the vote.
Putin faced massive street protests after his party, United Russia, won the parliamentary elections in December.
Skeptics insist the result was only achieved through vote rigging and speculate that similar fraud was being planned for the March vote.
Many pro-Kremlin pundits have warned the rallies are a preparation for an “Orange revolution” scenario of removing the ruling establishment through street protests.
The original Orange revolution took place in Ukraine in 2004 and ended in regime change, but no bloodshed.