Gennady Zyuganov helped to found the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 1990, as the Soviet Union began to unravel, and became its head in 1992. Aged 55, he's a former mathematics teacher who came second in the 1996 presidential election, gaining 40% in the second round runoff against Boris Yeltsin.

He is as much a Russian nationalist as a Communist, and regards Russia's current weakness as a dangerous development in a world where he says Slavic culture has traditionally acted as a counterbalance to Western individualism.

Certain to be a contender for the presidency in June, his political ambitions are hampered by a lack of charisma and a stiff, self-conscious manner.