Russia: Anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin attempts brave challenge to Vladimir Putin

The 60-year-old former opposition lawmaker Boris Nadezhdin is waging a long-shot campaign to unseat Vladimir Putin as Russian president, and he claims that his call for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine has given his candidacy a boost.

In order to be recognized as a candidate, Nadezhdin, who occasionally appears on state TV and criticizes the government before being quickly drowned out by TV anchors, needs to gather 100,000 signatures throughout Russia by the end of January.

He has reportedly already surpassed 100,000 signatures, according to his fans in Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, more signatures from other regions of Russia are still required, as the signatures must be distributed over at least 40 areas of the largest country in the world.

Nadezhdin expressed confidence that he would be registered and expressed surprise at how his appeal for an end to Russia’s conflict in Ukraine had led to people queuing up to sign his support even in the dead of winter in Russia and abroad.

“It (opposition to the war) is huge. People are tired of all this. They want to live a normal life in a normal country, they don’t want what is happening,” he was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

“People are putting their signature not because they really like me but simply because it’s a chance to do something for peace, for this whole story to end, and for people to stop dying,” he added.

People have previously campaigned against Putin in Russia’s strictly regulated political system and presented themselves as sincere opponents, only to admit years later that they were just doing so to pad the numbers as part of an agreement with the authorities.

The Kremlin claims that Putin, who has an approval rating of almost 80%, is truly popular and that the election scheduled for March 15–17 is a legitimate political fight.

According to his supporters, Putin has already gathered more than three million signatures—more than ten times the 300,000 he needs—and has opted to run as an independent rather than the nominee of the ruling United Russia party.

Additionally, according to the Kremlin, the majority of Russians back Moscow’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

For almost two years, state television has been persuading the public that the conflict is an existential struggle between the West and the rest of the globe over a new global order.

There is no question about the election’s result. Putin, who has controlled all state functions and served as president or prime minister for almost 20 years, is expected to win a second six-year term in a race that some call a crass parody of democracy.

Eleven candidates are running for president right now. Even when the result is obvious, critics claim that the Kremlin needs competitors like Nadezhdin to maintain the appearance of competition.

The Kremlin will be able to highlight how little opposition there is to the war in Ukraine if Nadezhdin is permitted to run and receives a small portion of the vote. These same critics of the war claim that he serves as a helpful focal point for them to vent their frustrations, including some of the wives of mobilized soldiers.

Many war opponents have either left Russia or been fined or imprisoned as a result of strict rules that impose lengthy prison sentences on anyone found guilty of disseminating “fake news” about the Russian army.

(With agency inputs)