The deadline for submitting applications to register to contest the 5 October Chechen presidential elections expired at 6 p.m. Moscow time on 20 August. Of the 13 applicants, journalist Ruslan Zakriev and pensioner Zaindi Movlatov were found not to have submitted the required minimum 10,800 signatures in their support and were denied registration. Eleven other candidates have either submitted signatures or paid a deposit of 4.5 million rubles ($150,000) or both. They are Chechen administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov; Moscow-based businessman Malik Saidullaev; Grozny University lecturer Avkhat Khanchukaev; poet Nikolai Paizullaev; Grozneftegaz Deputy Director Kutuz Saduev; former Achkhoi-Martan Raion administrator Shamil Buraev; Chechen Deputy Military Commandant Colonel Said-Selim Tsuev; chief inspector for the Southern Russia Federal District Abdulla Bugaev; Aslanbek Aslakhanov, who represents Chechnya in the Russian State Duma; Khusein Dzhabrailov, deputy director of Moscow\'s Hotel Rossiya; and former Chechen Deputy Premier Khusein Bibilatov. \"Gazeta\" on 21 August quoted Aslakhanov as saying he has borrowed the deposit money rather than endanger the lives of his supporters, whom Kadyrov\'s armed thugs have reportedly threatened to kill, by collecting signatures. (RFE/RL)