President Vladimir Putin upheld the candidature of First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday to succeed him in office when his presidency ends in March.

Putin meeting with party leaders Monday, including United Russia which won by a landslide in the recent parliamentary election, said he "fully and completely supported" Medvedev as a candidate for the March 2 vote.

With no favourite in sight a bare three months before the elections, the candidate backed by Putin is widely expected to take his place - riding on the coat tails of the president's skyrocketing popularity.

Though Putin (who is constitutionally barred from a third term) has expressed his intention to retain influence, the uncertainty surrounding his future political role has led to rumoured infighting among Russia's political elite.

On Monday Putin emphasized that Medvedev had the backing of four parties, two of whom represented more than 80 per cent of the electorate in parliament, "giving a real chance to form a stable government after the March elections."

The four pro-Kremlin parties - United Russia, A Just Russia, A Civil Front and the Agrarian Party - are set to each officially nominate Russian news agencies reported.

Medvedev, also the chairman of Russian energy monopoly Gazprom, is not a member of any party and can thus be put forth by all four political parties.

"Consultations with all four parties have been positive and will continue through the day and tomorrow," Medvedev told reporters after meeting Putin Monday.

Putin told reporters on Monday his faith in Medvedev resulted from a 17-year-old close working relationship.

"Medvedev was one of the two possible candidates personally groomed Putin in the last two years, meeting several (presidential) criteria," said Lilia Shevtsova, a specialist in Russian politics at the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

The soft-spoken Medvedev - put in charge of the multibillion- dollar national projects to improve health care, education, housing and agriculture - has long been seen to be competing for airtime and political favour with fellow deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov, the tough-imaged former defence minister.

But Monday's surprise statement of preference may be the end of months of speculation fuelled by the president's erratic promotions and random praise of members of his retinue, such as the elevation to candidate status of little-know financier Viktor Zubkov, named prime minister in September.

But Medvedev, 42, unlike the other possible nominees, has the longest relationship with Putin - both are graduates of the same St Petersburg law school.

Medvedev was first hired by Putin in the early 1990s to work for him in his native St Petersburg, and, staunchly loyal to his employer, Medvedev quickly rose through the ranks.

He was Putin's campaign manager in 2000, then headed the presidential administration, and later became Gazprom chairman.

Putin told reporters on Monday that he saw Medvedev's candidacy as a chance for "continuity" and "stability," buzzwords of his parliamentary campaigning for United Russia as he prepares to step down when his term ends in 2008.

Putin said his first deputy prime minister could "continue the same course that has given us results over the last eight years."

Ahead of United Russia's party congress on December 17, Putin said he would bless any candidate nominated by the delegates.

"Loyalty and continuity are the catch words for Putin," said Shevtsov of the Carnegie Centre told Deutsche Presse-Agenture dpa.

Though she said there could be no guarantee, "Medvedev has been chosen for continuity to preside over (Putin's) own strategy and legacy.

Putin's decision to head United Russia's ballot into the December 2 elections was the party's biggest campaign asset, provoking accusations from smaller parties that the vote was unfair.

It is entirely realistic that Medvedev carry off the 50 per cent needed to win in the first round of the presidential vote, said Yrui Charandin, chairman of the Federation Council's Constitutional Legislation Committee.

"Vladimir Putin's massive popularity ratings will now be spread not onto a large bureaucratic party, but onto one concrete person, which will make this support much more effective," Charandin said.

Former chess champion Garry Kasparov, presidential candidate for the opposition coalition The Other Russia, said Monday the elections "had turned into a performance."

"The entire administrative resources will work in favour of the so-called 'successor'," Kasparov was quoted by Interfax as saying on Monday.

An estimated five to eight candidates will be contesting for the Kremlin top spot, Igor Borisov, a member of the Central Electoral Commission, said at a conference on Monday.

Candidates from parties not favoured in the recent parliamentary vote, such as Kasparov's coalition, will have to collect no fewer than two million signatures to qualify as candidates before the December 26 deadline, Borisov said.