Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny led thousands through the streets of Vladimir Putin's native city Saturday in protest against his likely return to the Kremlin in March 4 polls.

The demonstration was called a day before thousands more hoped to link hands around Moscow in a poignant show of frustration with the ex-KGB spy's decision to seek a third presidential term after dominating Russia for 12 years.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is heading for victory in the first round of the presidential election by winning well over 50 percent of the vote, pollsters said on Friday.

There had been talk that Putin might be forced into a second round of voting -- for the first time in his political career -- to win the election, in which he is seeking a third term as president after his four year stint as prime minister.

Under the racy slogan "the first time is just for love", Vladimir Putin supporters have posted a series of videos aimed at young voters in an increasingly intense Internet election campaign battle.

The professional-quality videos initially seem to show young women worrying about losing their virginity before it turns out -- in a heavy double entendre -- that they are questioning for whom to cast their first time votes.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Thursday issued a battle-cry to tens of thousands of supporters packing Moscow's largest sports stadium as he predicted victory in next month's presidential election.

Putin declared in a fiery and nationalist-tinged speech to 130,000 people in the Luzhniki stadium that Russians had victory written into their "genetic code" and would not allow foreigners to meddle in their country's affairs.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin vowed Monday that Russia would strengthen its military might and offer an "asymmetrical and effective" response to the deployment of a NATO missile shield.

"We must not tempt anyone with our weakness," Putin wrote in a fiercely worded article on national security in the state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, ahead of his bid for a third Kremlin term in March 4 presidential polls.

Hundreds of Moscow drivers flying white balloons and ribbons circled the Kremlin on Sunday in noisy protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's likely return as president in March 4 polls.

The second such auto rally in three weeks was due to be picked up in other cities as the opposition sought to keep up momentum after launching the biggest wave of anti-Putin rallies in his 12-year rule in December.

Russian troops suffered 17 dead and 24 wounded in a days-long battle with insurgents in the restive North Caucasus region, Chechnya's Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said Saturday.

A previous toll on Friday was 13 killed in the deadliest unrest in months.

Tens of thousands of Vladimir Putin's supporters backed his bid for the presidency in rallies across Russia on Saturday, trying to outdo mass nationwide protests staged by his opponents.

At least 50,000 people attended rallies in European Russia, Siberia and the Far East supporting Putin's candidacy for a historic third Kremlin term in March 4 polls, Agence France Presse correspondents and police reports said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday vowed to reverse Russia's demographic decline and boost its population to 154 million, as he ramped up his re-election campaign in the face of protests.

In a new campaign article addressing his core constituency including employees of state companies and blue-collar workers, Putin also promised salary hikes to teachers and doctors and pledged to create a more just state.

Several schools in Russia have received an official recommendation to purchase copies of a book about the childhood and school years of Vladimir Putin, who is set to return to the presidency in March polls.

Several schools in the central Tver region to the northwest of Moscow have received a written recommendation to buy copies of the book entitled "Vladimir Putin. Parents. Friends. Teachers" published in 2004, a local official said.