From March 15 to 17, the presidential election will be held in Russia. To legitimize this election, and as is usual in the country, the Kremlin should let a candidate embody the presence of an opposition. The voice of liberal, anti-war Russia could well be that of former MP Boris Nadezhdine. In any case, he is the only one that the authorities allowed to collect the signatures necessary for his candidacy.
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With our correspondent in Moscow,
Leaving the offices at the end of the day in January, it’s pitch black and -17 degrees in Moscow. And yet, on the icy, slippery sidewalk leading to the signing HQ, the queue keeps getting longer.
It is that in this Russia which is a little more locked down every day, the collection of signatures for Boris Nadiejdine has become a phenomenon: all last weekend, images of queues of citizens who came to sign came to sign in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ufa and even Tyumen, were on social networks.
And there were still people there this Monday evening in the Russian capital. In the middle of the waiting crowd, we catch a glance, a pair of almond-shaped eyes under a thick hat. This is Irina, 24 years old, from Yakutia, in the east of the country. When asked why wait so long alone in the cold to sign for this candidate, the answer comes without hesitation: “ Anyone, but not Putin! »
Irina starts laughing at his audacity. Behind her, a young girl with a thin and shy figure also begins to smile upon hearing these words. Then, Irina became bolder, mixing English and Russian. “ How to tell you ?she slips. I am against war and I think it absolutely must stop. A member of my family was mobilized, but he managed to escape and hide. According to him, most of the people who were with him did not understand at all where they were going. Neither for what to do, nor for what purpose. In reality, many people would like change: they are just very afraid of what the government could do to them. »
“ With my job I can’t talk to you »
On this sidewalk in the center of the capital, however – and this has become particularly rare in Russia – there is no displayed distrust or closed faces in the face of questions from the team of a media from a classified country. as “unfriendly” by the authorities. The few Muscovites who decline the interview do so with an apologetic smile, and sometimes a few words like: “ With my job I can’t talk to you “. But in the vast majority of this young, educated, English-speaking crowd, they spontaneously say they have come for the extremely rare opportunity to express their opposition to the war, and to break their isolation too.
“ I’m not here for the outcome of the elections, that’s not really what concerns me. I am here mainly for psychological support, for me, to realize that in my country, there are still people who share my point of view. Here, I see so many people that I feel a little better. At least now I know I’m not alone, I’m not crazy », Estimates a young man.
The one who introduces himself as Edouard, a 25-year-old psychologist, also says “ be against the war “. “ I would like my country to be progressive, liberal, everything it was in the early 2000s. I lived in that country a little and it was wonderful. My friends, family and I remember those times when we were not afraid to express our positions on the issues in our country. So yes, I would like to live in a country where I would have the opportunity to say what I want about the course of things. »
The young man further states: “ it’s so hard to do it, because there is so much propaganda on television, there are so many people who have lost all hope of change “. Like everyone else on this freezing evening, Edouard has no illusions: on March 17, Russian television will announce a triumphant re-election of Vladimir Putin.
The deadline to reach the 100,000 signatures needed to run for president is January 31. The electoral commission must then verify and validate them. It is only then that we will know if the former elected official, who has worked in the liberal opposition but also in movements more in line with the authorities, will be officially registered as a candidate.
Boris Nadezhdine is a particularly rare case in Russia: he openly criticizes the war in Ukraine, including on state television where he is invited and often ridiculed. He notably declared: “ Vladimir Putin made a fatal mistake by launching “the special operation””.
Read alsoPresidential election in Russia: support for Vladimir Putin’s candidacy questioned by independent organizations
As the presidential election approaches, a law on the confiscation of property from critical voices
A new step will soon be taken in Russia to suppress the critical voices of citizens, inside but also outside the country. A bill was presented Monday, January 22 to the Duma on the confiscation of the property of any Russian convicted – in particular – of forgery and discrediting the Russian army. An arsenal to further increase pressure, particularly on independent media.
This new law is under debate, but the number of deputies having initialed it, 395 out of 450, leaves no room for doubt: it will obviously be adopted. Above all, it does not come as a surprise. The favorable atmosphere has been there since the fall of 2022 and the numerous and hasty departures from the country following the partial mobilization. According to an independent Russian observer, Vladimir Putin would have taken these leaks from the country as “ a personal offense “. Having heard of the anger of the head of state, many public figures at that time competed with each other with proposals to punish the exiles, reports our correspondent in Moscow, Anissa El Jabri.
Behind the scenes, others were slowing down the movement, among other things because the economy needs hands and brains. Nor should we frighten those whom the country needed. The method worked: some of them ended up tiptoeing back to Russia… but not always without incident. Young Russian men returning from a stay abroad are increasingly often checked and questioned as soon as they land at the airport. But the discreet returns are there, and they are mainly the work of those who knew how to keep a low profile during their months spent outside the borders. Those of the critical voices, on the other hand, can take a much more worrying turn.
Returning man arrested
Was it to make an example? In any case, an isolated affair caused a lot of noise in Russia. Last June, a musician burned his identity papers on social networks, proclaimed his disgust with the war and his desire to perform in Kiev, tore up the Russian patriotic symbol that is the Saint George ribbon, and nailed the portrait of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church… without provoking an official reaction from the authorities. And then, returning from Yerevan, Armenia, last November, Édouard Charlot was arrested at the airport. According to the independent media Fontankarepresentatives of what in Russia is called Center E, that is to say the department officially dedicated to the fight against extremism, were on the job.
Édouard Charlot is today in pre-trial detention, despite a letter of repentance to Patriarch Kirill, a public video apology to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to the strong man of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov and ” to all those (whom he may have) offended with (his) casualness “. He faces up to 6 years in prison for “ rehabilitation of Nazism ” And “ insults the feelings of believers “.
Very soon, Edouard Charlot could also risk the seizure of all his property. The list of reasons currently established in this bill is, among others, “false” and “discredit” against the army, “ calls for extremism or against state security », rehabilitation of Nazism, helps to prosecute Russian officials or military personnel abroad… it can still be modified but in summary it concerns all the articles today used against opponents or independent journalists. As independent journalist Farida Roustamova observes: “ All these articles can be qualified as political: penalties will be applied for words “.
The Speaker of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin writes on his Telegram channel that “ the purpose of the new bill is to punish scoundrels who support the Nazis, allow themselves to publicly smear our country, soldiers and officers participating in the special operation “.
With each wave of departures from the country, either when Russian soldiers were sent to Ukraine, then in the fall of 2022, when the partial mobilization was announced, the queues at notaries multiplied. Relatives of those who were leaving or had already left came to settle, by proxy, the transfer of their property, already anticipating a measure of this type.