Despite temperatures below minus 40, people in Siberian Yakutsk are coming to register their support for Boris Nadezhdin, who is seen here as the only credible challenger to Putin.
– The weather conditions are not ideal, but despite the fact that our office opened only four days ago, more and more people are coming every day, says Alexei Popov, who arranged a temporary office in a shopping center, where people can come and support Nadezhdin’s presidential campaign.
The same has happened in other cities around Russia in the past few weeks.
– I came here because I don’t like Putin, I can’t stand him, not because I know very much about Nadezhdin, says 86-year-old Lyudmila Nazarova outside a registration office in Moscow.
60-year-old physicist
Boris Nadezhdin is not very well known in Russia. He is a 60-year-old physicist who collaborated with liberal opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in 2015. Nadezhdin has also been active in more Kremlin-accepted political circles. A few days ago, he received the AFP news agency at his home:
– I am the only candidate who consistently criticizes Putin’s policy, who wants to end the special military operation and normalize relations with the West, so that the sanctions can be lifted.
Critic – or alibi?
Boris Nadezhdin has been allowed to criticize the regime in televised debates over the years, leading many to see him as an alibi for the regime when other more dangerous challengers have been jailed or forced into exile. He himself says he does not know why the Kremlin lets him be held.
However, associates of jailed Alexei Navalny, and of suspended opposition candidate Ekaterina Duntsova, have urged their supporters to support Nadezhdin in the March 15-17 election.
He himself is surprised by the strong support he has received in recent weeks, via signatures and financial contributions:
– It will be difficult to defeat Putin on March 17. But even if March 17 will not be the end of the Putin era, I hope it will be the beginning of the end.
Dissatisfaction with the war
Putin dominates the entire state apparatus, the security services – and the media – therefore it is impossible to win over him, says Boris Nadezhdin. However, he believes that the president made a mistake when he ordered the war of aggression against Ukraine and ensured that Russia became internationally isolated. And the opposition to the war is also what many of the Russians who wanted to favor Nadezhdin’s candidacy highlight:
– I came here because I am against the war and he is the only candidate who is, says 70-year-old Elena Karelina in a queue in Moscow.
52-year-old nurse Natalia Avdeyeva agrees:
– He is against the special military action, that is why he is our candidate. And it feels important to see how many people agree with us in our opinion.
Kremlin dismisses threats
The Kremlin says it does not see Boris Nadezhdin as a threat. Some observers even believe that the president may be strengthened by the war critics being forced to come forward.
Shortly after the deadline to register 100,000 signatures expires on Wednesday, we will know if his candidacy is approved.
However, the Russian election authority has previously been creative in finding reasons to reject signatures, and thus candidates.
Boris Nadezhdin says he knows he could be jailed or killed for his criticism of the Russian regime, but he says he’s not afraid, because he believes the highlights of life are behind him.