Former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov was nominated as a candidate for the 2008 presidential elections by his party, Russian news agencies reported Saturday.

The Russian People's Democratic Union congress nominated its leader Kasyanov as a candidate for the presidency. The elections will be held in March 2008.

Kasyanov promised to abolish the conscription for military service and reform the police. Speaking about the foreign policy, he said that Russia had no alternative to development of normal relations with the United States.

Kasyanov, 49, was President Vladimir Putin's first prime minister in 2000-2004 until the president sacked his Cabinet. After falling out with Putin, Kasyanov announced in a news conference he might run for presidency in 2008.

Kasyanov established a year ago the People's Democratic Union, a member of the Other Russian opposition coalition, which also includes former world chess champion Garry Kasparov's liberal United Civil Front and radical writer Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party.