Civil hunger

How Boris Nadezhdin and other presidential candidates lead the campaign in wartime, knowing in advance who will win

In the center of Moscow, near the metro pure ponds is crowded. Despite the tangible minus, snow and wind, there is a long line, it has hundreds of people who want to sign in support of the anti -war presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin.

“Have you seen his last name? She is speaking, as in literature, ”says a man of about forty in a bright blue down jacket. - We hope for changes, we hope that it will be possible to reach heads in the Kremlin. Maybe this excitement will show them that in the country with the support of the war against a neighbor, everything is not so smooth? All hope for Nadezhdin. " In the second half of January, the Nadezhdin signature collection campaign was sharply activated - largely thanks to Maxim Katsu, Ekaterina Shulman and other opinions of opinions, who expressed his support.

In Russian cities and abroad, huge lines of people who want to support Nadezhdin were lined up . In Yakutia, they were not frightened by the 45-degree frost, and in Yekaterinburg voters, a short expectation, treated each other with hot tea. For many, the signature for a candidate who is openly opposed to war is the only affordable and, importantly, legal way to express a political position in the days of unprecedented censorship.

"Putin made a fatal mistake"

Voting in the presidential election in Russia will be held from March 15 to 17 inclusive. The stage of submission of documents took place 11 candidates of 15: for example, the CECdid not register the initiative group of Ekaterina Duntsova, who opposed the war with Ukraine self -nominated from Rzhev.

As a result, Boris Nadezhdin turned out to be the only anti-war candidate, unanimously nominated at the Civil Initiative Congress on December 23, 2023, and until the beginning of January, remaining in the shadow of Duntsova.

Nadezhdin has a rich political story: he was in the Union of Right Forces, in 1997-1998 he served as adviser Boris Nemtsov (he was deputy head of the federal government), while in the late 90s he worked as an assistant to Sergey Kiriyenko (the current deputy head of the presidential administration). After in 2003, Nadezhdin left the State Duma of a third convocation, he visited Sergei Mironov from “Fair Russia”. In 2020, Nadezhdin opposed Vladimir Putin and other amendments to the Constitution.

Before the current campaign, Nadezhdin was most known as a frequent guest of political talk shows on federal channels. According to the politician, they stopped inviting him to such programs in May 2023, when he proposed to change the country's leadership to end the war with Ukraine during the transfer of the “meeting place” during the transfer of the “meeting place”. “We must choose someone else, not Putin, and everything will be fine,” he barely agreed on this phrase, as other speakers drowned him. In the same year, Nadezhdin decided to participate in the elections of the Governor of the Moscow Region, but received a refusal to register due to the lack of the necessary number of signatures of municipal deputies.

In November, various activists began to join the work at the headquarters of Nadezhdin. So, the ex-candidate for the municipal deputies of St. Petersburg and the head of the Mayak public movement Daria Hayniken headed his St. Petersburg headquarters.

Nadezhdin calls himself a fundamental opponent of the president’s policy. “Putin sees the world from the past and drags Russia into the past. Russia needs the future - the future of the country to which they will be equal and to which free and educated people want to return or move, ”the candidate’s website says. Nadezhdin criticizes the war in Ukraine, but in order not to fall under the laws of wartime, he calls it a “special military operation”:

“Putin made a fatal mistake, starting his. None of the stated goals have been fulfilled. And it is hardly feasible without great damage to the economy and an irreparable blow to the demography of Russia. ”

His most noticeable event after the New Year holidays is a meeting with wives and mothers of the mobilized, who had previously turned to Putin with a request for support. Unlike other candidates, Nadezhdin is not shy about the current topic.

The chances are higher than that of Putin and Lenin

The meeting of Boris Nadezhdin with wives and mothers of the mobilized takes place in a loft in the territory of the Izmailovsky Kremlin in the east of Moscow. The interiors do not really have a conversation about the fate of the Motherland: around the Cupidon lamps and New Year's garlands. It seems that there are more representatives of the media than the participants in the event: there are almost all foreign media that continue to keep correspondents in Russia, from NBC and BBC to Norwegian television. The candidate calmly and measuredly repeats that "it is time to finish the whole story with Ukraine," and people "have become encouraging mom do not grieve."

The word passes to the wives of the mobilized. Antonina from the Moscow Region says that her incomplete husband from the hospital was sent to the advanced, to the Storm detachment - the woman is almost crying. Husband, she says, told her directly: "Ton, in my opinion, we just have disposal." Nadezhdin reassures: “I will try to do everything so that your husband is commissioned and sent home. I will try to talk with the Ministry of Defense, in any way a fighter is from it. ”

Maria is performing, who has not only her husband, but also a second cousin. At some point, she switches to a scream, recalling the words of the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense Andrei Kartapolov that the protests of the mobilized wives were “cypsone-ceremic gain”. Nadezhdin turns on: “Girls, raise your hands who received money from the State Department. Nobody?"

“If only who bought coffee,” one of the women jokes. The other says: “We initially trusted our government. Now I do not trust anyone. In Putin’s speech for the New Year, I stood with a friend who had a son in an urgent army, and we cried together. ”

At the press approach, Nadezhdin is with the two most active mobilized wives. Notes: “Our meeting was very emotional. I am more and more convinced that what I do is right. <...> It’s a shame for the power! ” When asked about the chances of victory, he answers that he has higher than that of Vladimir Lenin in 1905 and in Vladimir Putin in 1998. One of the mobilized wives, Maria states: “The authorities want to drive us into depression, but we are already depressed. We are no longer afraid of anything. ”

"It's now how to stand in the picket"

By the 20th of January, the Nadezhdin signature collection campaign for the nomination of Boris was sharply activated. In many ways, this was facilitated by the videos of Maxim Katz, in which the politician said that “the prospects of Nadezhdin as a candidate, of course, are written by water by water,” but “now we know that talking about civil apathy in Russia are very far from reality. <...> We have a civilian hunger, a huge hidden potential. Those opportunities that people had passed by and have not noticed by recently, will now be taken into such a revolution that wool will fly along the back streets. ” Katsa, after some time, was supported by his opponents: for example, the director of the FBK Ivan Zhdanov posted the addresses at which you can leave the signature for Nadezhdin, and the lawyer and politician Lyubov Sobol joined the call, motivating this by the fact that Nadezhdin’s support “makes it possible to show that the Russian society has a request for political representation and new votes”.

By the evening of Sunday, January 21, the Political team had already collected the maximum permitted number - 2500 signatures - in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Voronezh regions and the Perm Territory. Anti-war-tuned people continue to stand in lines-the headquarters of Nadezhdin calls on to come with registrations in the regions, from where there are still not enough signatures.

“I am for any movement. With the beginning of the "Switch " politics is somehow completely headlong. Now at least there is something, as if we were again in 2021, ”says a guy of about 25 years old with an earring in his ear. A young girl who came with her husband says: “This is the only opportunity to say at least something. My mother also went in another city, although I initially wanted to boycott the elections completely. For many, elderly parents also go, because they are very tired of Putin, but these emotions can not spill out otherwise. It’s now to stand in the picket. ”

“If in Russia there is a politician who is against the war, I am for him. Unfortunately, you don’t put a signature for Navalny yet, so I am for Nadezhdin. I do not care where he used to speak there. Now it is anti -war, this is the main thing, ”says a middle -aged woman.

To the KTRU January 23, the headquarters of Boris Nadezhdin collected 100 thousand “imperfect” signatures that are necessary for registering a politician as a candidate for elections.

“The CEC will need to submit 105 thousand ideal signatures. Those that you cannot complain about. That is why we need to collect as many imperfect signatures as possible, ”Nadezhdin wrote in social networks, after which a new goal of 150 thousand was set on the site.

Sources of Medusa and Rain at the headquarters of Nadezhdin confirmed that the already collected signatures are not enough for the nomination, since there are many “defective”. The collection should be completed on January 31, the CEC will announce the registration of candidates no later than February 10.

Bulletinative candidate

If you walk along the street of any Russian large city right now, not knowing that 11 candidates have submitted applications for participation in the elections, then it will be difficult to guess about it. The only banners in prominent places are in support of Vladimir Putin.

They, as in 2018, were made in the style of posters that advertise the elections themselves. Local attractions are presented on the left side: the Kremlin-in Moscow, the Siberian-Arena ice stadium in Novosibirsk, Petrovskaya Naberezhnaya-in Voronezh. In St. Petersburg, a copper horseman is depicted on the poster. Journalists of the agency suggested that the choice of the monument of the first Russian emperor was not accidental: Putin repeatedly compared himself to Peter I. For example, in June he spent a parallel with the emperor’s aggressive campaigns: “Apparently, our share also fell to return and strengthen [originally Russian lands].” In December 2022, summing up the results of the first year of the war, Putin said : “The Sea of ​​Azov became the internal sea of ​​the Russian Federation. These are serious things. Peter I still fought for the exit to the Sea of ​​Azov. ” On the right part of the election banners, a tricolor is depicted with the words “Russia”, “Putin”, “2024”.

On December 30, 2023, the press service of the campaign headquarters Vladimir Putin reported that they collected more than 500 thousand signatures in support of his “self-nomination”. The president began the election campaign on January 10, 2024, for the first time visited Chukotka and answered questions from large parents, war participants, teachers, doctors and entrepreneurs. After that, he went on a visit to Khabarovsk.

Journalists of The Moscow Times noted that the use of working trips as election events contradicts selective legislation.

"Played capitalism and enough"

Representatives of parliamentary parties do not need to collect signatures in their support. There are three such candidates. Of the main Duma factions of their representative, only “fair Russia - patriots - for the truth” did not nominate , whose delegates at the congress unanimously supported the candidacy of Vladimir Putin.

The candidacy of the head of the LDPR Leonid Slutsky was nominated at the party congress on December 19, 2023: he was supported by 106 out of 108 delegates. The politician announced that during the election campaign he would visit 30 Russian regions. On December 30, 2023, the head of the LDPR visited Chukotka, and in January 2024 - Krasnodar Territory, Stavropol, Astrakhan and Nizhny Novgorod region. Most Slutsky is known for what he is accused of sexual harassment to journalists: despite the public statements of several correspondents at once and the presence of an audio recording of the conversation with one of them, the State Duma Commission did not see violations in the actions of the deputy.

The Congress of the Communist Party nominated Nikolai Kharitonov - he was supported by 175 of 188 delegates. Kharitonov already participated in the presidential election in 2004 and took second place with 13.7% of the vote. The slogan of the campaign sounds like this: "Played in capitalism and enough." Kharitonov also stated that he did not plan to criticize either Putin or other “colleagues”. The head of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, supported Kharitonov’s candidacy in his characteristic manner: “I want to tell you that this is a historical congress. Firstly, he first took place in a large war, which the NATO and Americans declared against our power. Secondly, we first hold the presidential elections in the conditions of war, this was not the case earlier. <...> Today we are preparing for the presidential election, and our team will do everything to make peace on Earth. ” Despite this, in Kharitonov’s program, one of the goals is declared “achieving an early victory in his”.

Vladislav Davankov was nominated at the congress of the New People party on December 24, 2023 - all 67 delegates voted in for. The politician also noted that he did not plan to criticize anyone during the campaign: “Criticism of [political opponents] remained in some other times. I did not do this during the Moscow campaign [in the elections of the Moscow Mayor in September]. I tried to convey our agenda, what excites Muscovites. And now I plan to do about the same thing, only throughout Russia. ” Davankov plans to visit 30 Russian cities - in January 2024 he had already managed to go to Smolensk, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh and Krasnogorsk. He also plans to sign for all the other candidates who still collect them: for example, he has already signed for Nadezhdin and for a blogger from Yekaterinburg Rada of Russians.

Imperialism, Masons and "Naked Party"

Like the self -nominated Vladimir Putin and the representative of the non -parliamentary faction to Boris Nadezhdin, the rest of the applicants for the presidency of the Russian Federation also need to collect 100 thousand signatures by the end of January 2024 - but not more than 2.5 thousand from each region.

The Russian National Union party nominated its chairman Sergei Baburin at the congress on December 24. According to the data on January 21, 2024, about 50 thousand people left signatures for him.

On December 28, 2023, Sergey Malinkovich was nominated by the Communists of Russia. Its program is called "ten Stalinist strokes for capitalism and American imperialism." It includes proposals to restore Soviet power and a planned economy, close the “distorting reality” of the media and create a “defensive union of anti -imperialist states” on the model of the Warsaw Treaty. ” According to the data on January 21, 2024, 60 thousand people left signatures for Malinkovich.

On December 24, 2023, Andrei Bogdanov nominated the candidacy of Andrei Bogdanov . Bogdanov - Mason, the Great Master of the Great Lodge of Russia. According to the data on January 21, 2024, 71 thousand people signed for it.

The candidacy of Irina Sviridova was nominated by the conservative “Democratic Party of Russia”. So far, the far -right TV channel "Tsargrad" attracted the main attention to Sviridova. The authors of the publication published photos of the candidate from her accounts in social networks, where she is dressed in a dress with a neckline. Based on this, in Constantinople they said that the elections are turning into a “naked party”.

Ecologist blogger Anatoly Batashev submitted documents to the CEC as a self-nominated person. The candidate noted that he was not going to the elections for protest: he has a “excellent program for the country's arrangement”, but if the CEC refuses to register him, he will react to this “with great respect”.

The beauty blogger and makeup artist of Russians also submitted documents as a self-nominated person. She motivated her participation in the presidential election as follows: “For many years I have been engaged in an active civic initiative: I have a lot of philanthropists - both in the zoo protection and in the eco -assignment. Every time I make some kind of civil initiative, I encounter a very large layer of difficulties: all this bureaucracy, opposition to structures-they are so non-plastic, very slow, contradictory, unacceptable. ” She also emphasized that she adheres to a “liberal position” and advocates “horizontal relations” with the authorities.