MOSCOW (AFP) -- A presidential hopeful from Russia's opposition pulled out of the election on Wednesday, citing ""propaganda, security and bureaucratic pressures"" and offering support for another candidate.

Boris Nemtsov, a deputy prime minister under president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s and a leader of the Union of Right Forces party, made the announcement in a statement published on his website.
""There are currently two presidential candidates remaining in Russia from the democratic opposition -- (former prime minister Mikhail) Kasyanov and myself,"" Nemtsov said.
""Like my supporters in the party, I think that there should only be one candidate from the democratic opposition. That is why I have taken the decision not to take part in the campaign,"" he added.
""It's clear that the presidential election, like the parliamentary elections, will be pure farce since candidates do not have equal chances in the campaign. Goebbels-like propaganda, security and bureaucratic pressures are being used against the opposition,"" he continued, referring to Adolf Hitler's wartime propaganda chief.
He said Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and Kasyanov were the only other genuine opposition candidates and called on them to pull out if a series of demands to the Kremlin are not met.
""Your participation in the campaign gives it legitimacy,"" he said, adding that two other candidates, ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov, were ""under Kremlin control"".
Nemtsov said Kasyanov and Zyuganov should demand that Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin-backed candidate and clear favorite, take part in televised presidential debates.
He also said they should call for state-controlled channels to give equal access to all candidates and urge Russia's secret services and the government bureaucracy to stop interfering in the election process.
After Nemtsov's withdrawal, five candidates remain: Bogdanov, Kasyanov, Medvedev, Zhirinovsky and Zyuganov.