Andrei Bogdanov will run as an independent candidate as his party failed to make it into the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, at the December 2 elections, gaining only 0.1% of the vote.
An individual without the backing of a parliamentary party must form an action group consisting of no less than 500 supporters. The would-be president then has to submit the necessary documents, including proof of income and property, to the Central Election Commission before December 18.
If approved by the commission, an independent contender is also required to produce at least 2 million signatures in support of his application. The Russian opposition calls the requirement unrealistic and undemocratic.
Bogdanov is known as a fierce advocate of Russia's integration into Europe.
"Russia is a European country, and Russians are Europeans. We must return to the European family," he said earlier in one of his interviews. "We left it in 1917 [after the Bolshevik revolution] and we believe we must be back there in 2017."
He said his party had concrete programs to bring Russia closer to Europe and planned to raise the question of Russia's EU membership at a national referendum in 2009.
Supporters of Andrei Bogdanov, 37, will apply for his registration with the Central Election Commission on Saturday.
Bogdanov is so far the third officially nominated candidate. The other two are former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who pledged to promote freedom, competition and dissolve the current parliament elected during the widely criticized polls, and outspoken ultranationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, recently jailed for five days following an opposition march, was one of the first to announce plans to pull out of the presidential race after failing to find a venue for his action group meeting.
The ruling United Russia party backed by three other pro-Kremlin parties announced on Monday it would put forward First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to run. Given President Vladimir Putin's backing, Medvedev is seen as a front-runner.
