RUSSIA - Dec. 18 - Putin To Run For 2nd Term.

Pres. Putin capitalises on the strong success of pro-Kremlin parties in the country's recent parliamentary elections and announces he will stand for re-election next March. In comments during his annual televised question-and-answer session to the nation, Putin kicks off his campaign with calls for further market-oriented economic reform combined with more effective government and a resurgent international role for Russia. In response to a question from a soldier stationed in the new Kant airbase opened in Kyrgyzstan earlier this year, Putin stresses that Moscow is a partner of the US in the war against international terrorism. However, on the day that the US envoy charged with negotiating Iraqi debt relief, James Baker, arrives in Moscow, Putin reiterates his opposition to the war launched by Bush against Saddam. During more than 21/2 hours responding to a selection of more than 1.5m questions put by telephone, TV and internet, Putin reiterated his opposition to changing the constitution approved in 1993, which would limit him to one more four-year term. In a hint at his likely election themes, he says his priorities include administrative reform of the state and anti-corruption measures. But he also stresses the need to do more to tackle poverty, and says the most important challenge for the new century is fighting "economic lag" and shifting from "military confrontation...to economic competition". On the Yukos case, he criticises parliamentary lobbyists who defeated the government's proposals for a new oil tax that would have handed "super profits" to the state. "We can't allow crooks to abuse democratic terminology as they try to ensure their clan interests", he adds in a later answer. But he also criticises new laws seen as the work of hard-liners within the Kremlin who have been linked to the Yukos affair, suggesting the need for a new balance. Putin stressed after his broadcast that he would stand as a presidential candidate through a signature campaign across the country. The liberal opposition party Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces that failed to win re-election to parliament, and the Communist party, which suffered a sharp set-back, might boycott the presidential elections.