Is called Boris Nadezhdin and wants to become President of Russia. Something that sounds like science fiction in a country that has lived in the shadow of Vladimir Putin for more than 24 years. The brand new candidate enters the Russian political stage with a message that is as clear as it is direct: the same day he comes to power, he will declare an end to the war with Ukraine that his country started almost two years ago. Hopeful, but not so easy to achieve, considering that Nadezhdin has not yet been officially approved for the presidential election.
He claims to have already prepared the 100,000 signatures needed to confirm his candidacy and enjoys the support of a large part of Russian intellectuals and culture, whose members are currently in exile.
The 60-year-old candidate, who leads an extra-parliamentary center-right formation called Citizens' Initiative, can boast of knowing Russian politics, having been a deputy in the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) in the early 2000s. At that time he became friends with Boris Nemtsova Putin opponent who was murdered while walking through downtown Moscow in February 2015.
His pacifist message could turn the Russian elections into a referendum on war, which the Kremlin would not allow. To date, few believe that she will appear on the ballot, repeating the case of the former television journalist Yekaterina Duntsovawhose candidacy was blocked last month due to the end of the war.
Despite her absence, Duntsova has launched an active campaign in support of Nadezhdin. The other candidates with certain options are imprisoned, such as: Alexei Navalny either Vladimir Kara-Murza.
“The first thing I will do is call for peace and put an end to mobilization,” he said in one of his first interviews published on the YouTube channel with the journalist of the defunct Echo Moscow radio became. Julia Latinina.
According to his Nadezhdin, “Putin made a big mistake” when he began the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, estimating that the consequences of the conflict “will be very serious.”
The candidate is clear that his country wants peace and he knows that in a transparent election he would receive the majority of votes. His name can now be heard in the Kremlin corridors from the mouths of journalists and advisers. Asked about the issue, the official spokesman for the Presidency said: Dmitry Peskovassured that Nadezhdin could not be considered a serious rival to Putin.
The media, under the control of the government, has not mentioned the existence of the candidate, who has already reported on obstacles in the formalization of his group and the presence of bots on social networks that spread false news and accusations against his party.
The presence of Boris Nadezhdin on the electoral lists would go a long way in ensuring the transparency of Russia's electoral process, as it would create independent auditors who can control access to polling stations and the counting of votes by being present at polling stations across the country are . The shadow of electronic voting will once again hang over election results, with or without those involved. In the absence of confirmation of the signatures submitted, Russia hopes to receive Nadezhdin on March 17.