Tomorrow the polls open in Russia.
An election that Vladimir Putin is guaranteed to win.
His sharpest critics are either dead, imprisoned, in exile or prevented from standing in the elections.
TV4 News’ foreign correspondent Lisa Grenfors goes through the names in the shadow of the Russian president.
Yulia Navalnaya
Yulia Navalnaya
Yulia Navalnaya:
Alexei Navalny’s wife has played an important role as an oppositionist in exile and has come forward further after her husband’s death. But she lives in exile and seriously conducting opposition from abroad is questionable. The supporters of Navalny’s movement still remain in Russia. Many are imprisoned and as recently as today, two art students received their sentences for having been involved with Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption movement FBK and received 3.5 years in a penal colony for it.
Leonid Volkov
Leonid Volkov
Leonid Volkov:
Leonid Volkov is another oppositionist who was formerly chief of staff of Navalny’s anti-corruption movement and who a few years ago was forced to choose exile. He was beaten in Lithuania on Tuesday in Vilnius where he lives. The Lithuanian state points the finger at Russia and the incident is seen as an example that opposition parties are not safe in exile either.
Vladimir Kara-Murza
Vladimir Kara-Murza
Vladimir Kara-Murza:
Kara-Murza is the opposition politician sentenced to the longest prison sentence to date. He is serving his sentence in a high-security prison in Omsk, Siberia. His wife is in the UK and is worried about his health, not least after Navalny’s death. Convicted of treason for criticizing the war in Ukraine. A famous politician who was poisoned twice.
Boris Nadezhdin
Boris Nadezhdin
Boris Nadezhdin:
Only candidate who was against the war in Ukraine. Viewed with skepticism by the opposition abroad but later gained support. Banned from participating by the Electoral Commission which claimed errors in the collection of names that would give him the candidacy. The ban was served at the beginning of February.
Grigory Melkonyants
Grigory Melkonyants
Grigory Melkonyants:
An important force in independent election monitoring is Grigorij Melkonyants who is in charge of the organization Golos. He was detained six months ago and the organization is banned. There is practically no independent election monitoring now, not domestic and not foreign.