Acting Moscow mayor seeks ruling party membership

Acting Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin is seeking membership of the ruling United Russia party, the party's press service said.
"Acting Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin filed a request to join the United Russia on Tuesday," the statement reads.
However, according to the party's charter, Resin should be listed as one of the party's "supporters" for six months before being granted membership.
Resin's move is widely seen as a bid to become the Moscow Mayor. The 74-year-old acting mayor filed his request shortly after a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian premier, told the Gazeta.ru news portal that the future mayor's candidacy was not the key issue discussed during the meeting.
"Probably, it [the discussion] was not [about the process of nominating the future Moscow mayor]. But I cannot rule out that some elements of this process were discussed," Peskov said.
United Russia will present a list of candidates for Moscow mayor to President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday. The party's general committee will convene on Friday night or Saturday morning to agree a final list of three or four hopefuls.
A dozen senior officials have been tipped for one of the top jobs in Russia.
Resin was appointed acting Moscow mayor after Yuri Luzhkov, who had headed Moscow since 1992, was fired by the Russian president last week after weeks of speculation that he would either step down or be sacked amid his worsening relations with the Kremlin.