Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns the New Jersey Nets of the NBA, announced today that he will create a new party to challenge Vladimir Putin for the Russian presidency.
“I made probably the most serious decision in my life. I am running for president,” Prokhorov tells a news conference in Moscow, RIA Novosit reports.
The announcement comes after a week of increasingly angry protests in Moscow and other Russians cities against last week’s parliamentary elections and the slim victory by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party.
