MOSCOWJan21, 2012(AFP):The strongman prime minister is seeking to reclaim his old Kremlin job in March 4 presidential elections despite an outburst of protest against his 12-year rule. Prokhorov’s highly ambitious plan tapped into the growing public resentment with Putin that has recently spilled over into street protests following disputed parliamentary elections last month. The precious metals tycoon — owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team in the NBA and a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $18 billion — has a chequered reputation in Russian politics and an approval rating of less than five percent. But the globe-trotting 46-year-old has gone through great lengths in recent weeks to dispel suspicions he was only running at the Kremlin’s behest to make Putin’s seemingly inevitable victory look competitive. He appeared at a boisterous TV debate with Communist Party rival Gennady Zyuganov on Thursday and on Friday released a programme entitled “The Real Future” that painted a bleak picture of Russia under Putin. “We live in a country with an authoritarian political regime,” it said. “We live in an unreal world with pretend politics and a pretend economy.” Prokhorov’s programme is split into small sections devoted to the economy and domestic politics as well as foreign policy and defence. It includes repeated vows to build stronger trade and diplomatic ties with the European Union but does not mention the United States once. He also vows to ban all forms of censorship and state control of the main television and radio networks. One of the most controversial sections calls for the breakup of the vast Gazprom natural gas monopoly that provides the bulk of Russia’s budget revenues and whose dominance has drawn European calls for reform. But he is certain to score points with younger voters by vowing to abolish the hugely unpopular army draft by 2015 and fight state corruption by making bureaucrats report both their earnings and spending. Billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov vowed Friday to break up state control of the media and huge enterprises in an election manifesto aimed at denting Vladimir Putin’s chances in March polls.