Russia PM Medvedev set to be elected United Russia leader

Russia's ruling party is expected to elect the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as its new leader at a congress in Moscow on Saturday.

The former president will suceed his ally, President Vladmir Putin, who nominated him for the job in April.

Correspondents say that Mr Medvedev is taking over a party in deep crisis.

Despite suspicions of widespread vote rigging, United Russia lost a quarter of its seats in the parliament after the elections in December.

Officials admit that a comprehensive revamp is badly needed before the upcoming season of regional elections.

The BBC's Leonid Ragozin in Moscow says the party is widely perceived as a network of political opportunists whose businesses depend on proximity to the government.

He says Mr Medvedev will have to fight an uphill battle if he wants to reform a party that many Russians refer to as the "party of crooks and thieves".

At a meeting with United Russia members, Mr Medvedev called for greater democracy and openness in the party.

However, even as he spoke, a large part of the area around the congress venue in the heart of Moscow was cordoned off by police, our correspondent says.

Mr Putin, 59, was sworn in for his third term as president earlier this month, and formed his government this week.

Mr Medvedev entered the Kremlin in 2008 because of a bar on Mr Putin serving three consecutive presidential terms.