Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) prepares to shake hands with the leader of Yabloko movement Grigory Yavlinsky (L) as the leader of the Unity movement Sergey Shoigu (2L), the leader of Russian Communist Party Gennady Zuganov (3L) and "Our Home is Russia" leader Vladimir Ryzhkov (4L) look on during a meeting with the leaders of political groups in the Kremlin January 5. Putin said on Wednesday that presidential candidates would have until February 13 to collect the 500,000 petition signatures in support of their candidacies.

WAW