Russia's 2012 presidency scheduled for March 4

Russia's 2012 presidential elections will be held on March 4, Central Election Committee member Maya Grishina said on Thursday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in June that his running for presidency simultaneously with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the 2012 Presidential elections would be counterproductive, so only one of them would take part in the polls. Neither Medvedev nor Putin has yet announced his decision to participate in the elections. Former speaker of the Russian Federation Council Sergei Mironov suggested in early July that Putin and Medvedev had already agreed upon everything but will not make their decision public before the start of the election campaign because if one if them is announced as a candidate, the other becomes a lame duck.