“I am running for election as a principled opponent of the current president’s policies.
» Boris Nadejdine, opponent of Vladimir Putin, officially submitted his candidacy on January 31.
Between March 15 and 17, he will try to take the place of the head of state who has been in the Kremlin for 24 years.
A physicist who became an MP
Born in 1963, Boris Nadejdine is a physicist by training and began to take an interest in the problems of his country at the age of 17, before launching into politics.
Unknown to the general public, the candidate is nevertheless well established.
He began his career at the municipal council of Dolgoprudny, an oblast of the city of Moscow, in 1990.
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After an initial failure to be elected to the Duma - the Russian Federal Assembly - he became an advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov - assassinated in 2015 - before finally obtaining a seat in the Duma in 1999. He joined the Union group there. right-wing forces, reports the site dedicated to his campaign.
He became known in particular for having defended a bill aimed at making the income and assets of civil servants accessible to the public or for the law on elections and referendums, which obliges each polling station to publish its results on the Internet.
Disruptive pacifism
It is through his position on the war in Ukraine that Boris Nadejdine stands out.
Firmly opposed to the “special military operation” launched by Vladimir Putin in February 2022, his position stands out in a country where military censorship reigns, note our colleagues from Radio France.
The candidate finally obtained the 100,000 signatures necessary to officially present himself against Vladimir Putin by touring the country and appearing regularly with Russian soldiers mutilated at the front or their bereaved families.
In his campaign manifesto, he pledged to “bring everyone home”.
Also read: A year of war in Ukraine through the lens of our photographer
“My candidacy gives people a unique opportunity to legally protest against current policy,” he told AFP.
Others before him went to prison for such comments.
Why is he spared?
Perhaps the head of the Kremlin “does not consider me a terrible threat”, admits the opponent.
A hypothesis that Moscow does not fail to confirm, arguing that it does not “consider it as a competitor”.
Which program ?
Beyond his anti-war speech, Boris Nadejdine wants to refocus on the country's internal problems and promises amnesty to political prisoners.
The candidate would also like to establish direct suffrage for local representatives or even demonstrate his commercial independence from China.
On areas that put Russia at the heart of his program and move away from international considerations, he positions himself as an enemy of Vladimir Putin's expansionist policy.
He also surprised by tackling subjects such as abortion or pollution in a very conservative Russia, underlines RFI.
Will he campaign in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, annexed in September 2022 by Russia?
“No,” he assures our colleagues at the microphone, “because of the fighting and martial law.”
Does he have his chances?
The path that remains to be taken will be winding for Boris Nadejdine.
His candidacy will notably have to pass through the hands of the central electoral commission which will verify the signatures and his eligibility.
Muscovites who came this week to sign their support wonder if the Kremlin is not using this candidacy to give an outlet to the discontented, reports AFP.
“I know it will be hard to beat Putin,” the opponent readily admits.
Nevertheless, he hopes for a good score which could mean "the beginning of the end" of the Russian president's era.