MOSCOW On Tuesday evening, a long line of people waited patiently in the snow for the veteran politician to enter Boris Nadezhdin to campaign headquarters.
In the office, signatures were collected for Nadeždin’s presidential candidacy. 60-year-old Nadeždin has criticized the military special operation, which is what Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is officially called.
It will be held in Russia on the 15th–17th. the first round of the March presidential election. A second round is hardly needed, because in the Russian political system Vladimir Putin the next season is already clear.
Sometimes the organizers shouted advice to people about which line to go to. There was a shorter queue for residents of the capital and the surrounding Moscow region, a longer queue for residents of other regions.
A Muscovite standing in line Victor said that Nadeždin is currently the only viable and human-faced candidate.
– His view is shared by a huge number of people who now have no political representation in Russia. There are many such people.
According to him, the nomination meeting was the first opportunity to simply gather. It was like a breath of wind.
– We have the opportunity to see each other, to understand that we are not alone. And that is a very big psychological bonus, Viktor said.
The rulers have harshly suppressed all anti-war sentiments in Russia since the country launched a major invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The collection of Nadezhdin’s signatures has given Russians who are against the war at least a small chance to express their silent objection to the current state of affairs in the country.
Many who lined up for the office said Nadezhdin’s criticism of the war was an important reason to support her candidacy.
The veteran politician began criticizing the war effort
Boris Nadeždin was an MP in 1999–2003. He was not seen as a staunch opponent of Putin’s regime, but in 2020 he criticized constitutional changes that allowed Putin to run for two more terms.
Now Nadeždin has profiled herself as a critic of the war.
– Putin made a fatal mistake when he started the special operation. None of the announced goals have been implemented. And they are unlikely to be implemented without a huge loss to the economy and an irreparable blow to the Russian demographic structure, Nadezhdin in the election manifesto reads.
Nadeždin believes that state propaganda drives people to anger, and the Duma makes laws on the basis of which anyone can go to prison.
Nadeždin has met the wives of men who were sent to war, who demanded their men back from the front.
As in Russia in general, Nadezhdin’s motives have been suspected. Russian politics is notoriously dirty. Some have claimed that it is a Kremlin project to gain credibility for the presidential election.
Be that as it may, many Russians who oppose the war and Putin’s regime saw the collection of signatures as an opportunity to express their opposition to the current administration.
Queues for signing places have been seen across Russia: St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Saratov and Voronezh.
Many opposition figures who have fled abroad have also said they support Nadeždin’s project.
Signatures have also been collected in countries where Russians who fled the war-tightened atmosphere and partial movement support live.
There are still many twists and turns to the nomination
Nadeždin needs the signatures of at least 100,000 citizens behind her presidential candidacy.
There is not much time left: the signatures must be submitted to the Central Election Board for inspection by January 31 at the latest.
On Thursday morning, Nadeždin’s campaign said that more than 150,000 signatures had already been collected. However, that does not mean that the work is finished. Regional distribution is essential, and that is why the campaign was in a hurry to collect enough signatures from citizens outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Namely, signatures have to be collected from dozens of different regions of Russia, with a maximum of 2,500 signatories from each region.
Seeing like-minded people raised the mood
On Tuesday evening, people stood in line with their passports in the narrow corridors of the campaign office in Moscow. Moscow’s signature quota was already full, but many Muscovites still wanted to express their support.
Came from the Moscow region surrounding the capital Vadim said that he supports Nadeždin’s program. He wanted change, and he thought there was even a chance for it. He admitted that Nadeždin’s candidacy was uncertain.
– Even if it doesn’t work out, we now know that there are many of us, we are not alone, Vadim said.
Young Muscovites had also come to give their signatures Zoya and Vladimir.
– We are excited that so many people have come to support Boris Nadeždn, Zoja said.
– This is probably the best queue I’ve ever stood in, Vladimir added.
It is uncertain whether the election authorities will accept the signatures collected by Nadeždin. Queued to sign on Wednesday Irina doubted that Nadeždin would not be allowed to run in the elections.
– But I and probably the majority of people here want to show that there are people who don’t want the current administration, Irina said.
Viktor also thought it likely that the authorities would reject the signatures as invalid. On the other hand, he thought that the situation had taken the authorities by surprise.
– I think that they did not expect that there would be such a mobilization of society. I’m not sure they even know what to do about it.
Muscovite Marija had acted as an election observer and said he knew that those in power have many ways to play with the results. Even so, the sight of the crowd at headquarters excited him.
– Sometimes it is very difficult, but here I see that I am not alone, Marija said.
He laughed that even the politician’s last name evoked hope, since its root word is Nadežda, which means hope.
– We believe that nothing is forever. Even such an administration will come to an end at some point, even if it costs my life, for example. I’m ready for that. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I have never been afraid and I will not be afraid.