Alexei Navalny launches bid to challenge Vladimir Putin NEWS / E

UROPE  OPINION How Putin became a problem for Russian oligarchs by Roman Dobrokhotov READ MORE Profile: Alexei Navalny, opposition leader Russia Europe Politics Navalny said he had gathered enough nominations to be a candidate in the March elections [Reuters] Supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny have gathered in about 20 cities across Russia to formally get his name on the ballot for next year's presidential elections. Navalny has been banned from running in the vote in March due to a criminal conviction, but he still intends to announce his candidacy against President Vladimir Putin. On a river beach on the outskirts of the capital, Moscow, nearly 750 supporters raised small red voting cards to endorse Navalny, who has long been the most visible opposition figure to Putin's rule. An independent candidate needs at least 500 people to formally nominate them and initiate a presidential bid. Advertisement "It's you, Vladimir Putin, who turned this country into a source of personal enrichment for yourself, your family and your friends. It's why you shouldn't be president anymore, it's why you're a bad president", Navalny told the gathered crowd. "You don't know how to rule a country and we defy you in these elections and we are set to win." Thousands of Navalny supporters also gathered in cities across Russia - from St Petersburg to Vladivostok - to show their support for the opposition leader. However, chances of the 41-year old being officially registered as a candidate by the central election commission are slim as he is banned from running because of a conviction for fraud. In a retrial of a 2013 case, a court in the city of Kirov handed down in February a five-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of about $8,500 to Navalny for embezzling timber worth about $500,000. Navalny has always maintained that the conviction was politically motivated