Political critic Boris Nadezdin criticizes the Ukraine war as a fatal mistake
‘100,000 signatures of support’ caused a sensation… National Election Commission and Supreme Court disallow candidacy
43 countries around the world call for an international investigation into Navalny’s death
“I am not the only one in Russia who opposes the war in Ukraine.”
This is what political commentator Boris Nadezhdin (61), who was displaced between the 15th and 17th, recently told the Russian independent media outlet Medusa. Although his candidacy was thwarted by the Supreme Court ruling, he made it clear that he would continue his anti-war movement.
The prevailing view is that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has virtually no rivals in this presidential election, will succeed in his fifth term. Some say that the seeds of opposition figures in Russia have dried up after the mysterious death last month of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was President Putin’s only political opponent and also opposed the war in Ukraine.
View largerOn the 8th of last month, after the Russian Election Commission rejected his candidate registration, Boris Nadezhdin held a press conference and announced that he would appeal to the Supreme Court. Moscow = AP NewsisUnlike Navalny, Nadezhdin, a former physicist, refrains from directly criticizing the Putin regime’s authoritarian rule, but persistently calls for an end to the war. He became famous when he appeared on NTV in September 2022, seven months after the start of the war, calling for an end to the war and peace negotiations. Even when he declared his candidacy for the presidential election in October last year, he mentioned the Putin regime’s ‘special military operation’ referring to the war in Ukraine and criticized “this operation as a fatal mistake.”
In Russia, in order for a candidate from an outside party to run for president, he or she must receive the support of more than 100,000 people in at least 40 of 85 administrative districts across the country. Accordingly, Nadezhdin focused on targeting young people and voters in border areas who are opposed to the war but are unable to express this out of fear of the Putin regime. There was a warm response from President Putin’s hometown, St. Petersburg, and the capital, Moscow. In Yakutsk, a city in the Sakha Autonomous Republic in the Far East, known for its extreme cold, hundreds of people lined up to support him every day, even in extreme cold temperatures exceeding -40 degrees Celsius.
View largerA citizen leaves a signature in support of Boris Nadezhdin’s presidential candidacy in St. Petersburg, Russia, on January 23. St. Petersburg = AP Newsis
View largerOn the 8th of last month, after the Russian Election Commission rejected his candidate registration, Boris Nadezhdin held a press conference and announced that he would appeal to the Supreme Court. Moscow = AP NewsisHowever, on the 8th of last month, the Election Commission did not allow Nadezdin to register as a candidate, saying, “The error rate among the signatures Nadezdin received was 15%, exceeding the allowable limit (5%).” When Nadezdin objected, the Supreme Court also ruled on the 4th that “the National Election Commission’s decision was justified.”
Western condemnation of Navalny’s death continues. On the 4th, 43 countries, including the European Union (EU), submitted a statement to the UN Human Rights Council, urging “the Putin regime to allow an independent and transparent international investigation into Navalny’s sudden death.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.