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Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely expected on Thursday to formally declare that he will run for a second and, according to the constitution, final four-year term in March.

Putin is due to appear on national television from noon (4 a.m. EST) for what has become an annual live question and answer session with ordinary Russians. Previous sessions have lasted for close to three hours.

More than a million questions have already been submitted and, according to the official Web site www.linia2003.ru for the television program, top on the list is whether the president will stand for a second term.

Putin's popularity ratings are routinely above 70 percent, boosted by his promise of a more stable and prosperous Russia that emerged from the Soviet Union 12 years ago in near ruin.

Other questions include Putin's view on the detention of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, how often his daughters use the Internet and to whom he plans to give the recently born puppies of his pet Labrador.

Local news agencies reported that the phone line set up to take questions was receiving calls during the morning at a rate of 800 per minute.

Though Putin is almost certain to win the March 14 presidential election, opposition parties on Wednesday threatened to spoil the occasion by boycotting the vote.

The Communist Party and two small liberal parties were badly mauled in this month's parliamentary elections which handed a huge victory to pro-Putin parties amid widespread accusations that the Kremlin used state-controlled media and the bureaucracy to ensure its crushing victory.

A Communist Party official was quoted by Russian media as saying a boycott could be used to push election turnout below 50 percent, rendering the result invalid.

But the head of Russia's Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnayakov, said he doubted that would be the case.

"This is possible in theory, but in practice, I personally can hardly imagine it, considering the significance of the election of the president of Russian Federation," told local NTV television.

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