PRAGUE — Vladimir Putin's decision to serve as prime minister should Dmitri Medvedev become Russia's next president has made their electoral success in March a virtual certainty.

Although the Communist Party's leader, Gennadi Zyuganov, and the Liberal Democrats' Vladimir Zhirinovsky are running — in contrast to 2004, when they fielded stand-ins — neither will get more than 15 percent of the vote.

Even assuming that Mikhail Kasyanov, Boris Nemtsov,and Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov somehow collect 2 million signatures each to get on the ballot, the outcome will be the same. Indeed, so far, none of them has more than 2 percent popular support.