Luzhkov to form own political movement

However, Luzhkov told the Moscow-based The New Times magazine that he had no intention of forming a political party.

"I am going to form my own political movement," he told the magazine.

He did not rule out that the organization could be linked to the Russian Movement for Democratic Reform organization, created in 1991.

Luzhkov, who left the ruling United Russia party just two days before his dismissal, also denied that he had been offered the post of the head of the upper house of parliament to resign as mayor.

Relations between the long-serving Moscow mayor and Medvedev are believed to have soured after a September article by Luzhkov in the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta hinted at criticism of the leadership tandem of Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

According to some reports, the Kremlin was also angered by Luzhkov's opposition to Medvedev's decision to halt the construction of a controversial highway to St. Petersburg cutting through a forest north of Moscow. Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version