Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old political veteran with a background in physics, He promises to end Putin's “fatal mistake” in Ukraine, stop mobilization and release political prisoners, including Alexei Navalny. He also pledged to repeal military censorship laws and anti-LGBT laws.
Nadezhdin has been criticized by some for being vague about the status of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, as well as the territory it recently occupied in eastern Ukraine, saying it should be left to its residents to decide which country they want to be part of. to. Although he criticizes the Ukraine war as a “huge mistake” on Putin's part, he refers to it as a “special military operation,” a euphemism coined by Putin. Nadezhdin defends this as a necessary precaution to avoid falling foul of military censorship laws.
Nadezhdin must now submit 100,000 signatures, which must be spread across at least 40 regions, to the Russian Central Election Commission by the end of January.
Speaking to Politico on Thursday by phone, Nadezhdin attributed his success so far to “a number of miracles” and “amazing things.”
The first was that he was able to convince the liberal Civic Initiative Party to support him, which reduced the number of administrative hurdles he faced.
Second, thousands of people began donating money and registering as volunteers.
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