A group of European vote monitors said Saturday they were denied a meeting with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin ahead of next month's presidential elections because of his busy schedule.

The Russian premier is the overwhelming favourite to beat four weak rivals in a March 4 ballot that should hand him a third term as Kremlin chief.

The 59-year-old served as president in 2000-2008 and then as premier for the past four years before deciding to swap jobs with his handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev.

But Putin - a former KGB agent whose domineering style went almost unchallenged until the first street protests against his rule broke out two months ago - has refused to debate his rivals and already predicted his own victory.

A team of observers from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly said that Putin's team this week also told them the prime minister was too busy to fit them into his schedule.

"We were informed that a meeting does not fit into Mr. Putin's plans," Interfax quoted mission head Tiny Kox as saying. "We accept that as the answer."

Putin has a history of testy relations with foreign vote monitors and in December accused the U.S. State Department of inciting the rallies that followed that month's contested parliamentary polls.

Putin's team has launched a counter-offensive against the protests after initially appearing caught off guard and uncertain about how to respond to the first public challenge against his authority.

State unions and organizations in recent weeks began busing their members and employees to a weekly series of tightly-choreographed rallies that hail Putin as a national leader who guarantees Russia's sovereignty.

Thousands more came out again across Russia's main provincial towns Saturday despite Arctic chills that sent temperatures plunging to -30 C in some regions of Siberia.

The biggest pro-Putin rally will be organized in Moscow on Feb. 23 when Russia celebrates Defenders of the Fatherland Day.