Konstantin Larionov is the new face of the opposition within Russia. Who is he and what does he want? "Wind" talked to him

"Wind" talked to him

Konstantin Larionov is 29 years old. He heads the interregional socio-political organization Candidates' Headquarters , created during the presidential campaign of Boris Nadezhdin. Right now, the “Headquarters” is preparing for the new elections in 2026 and is becoming a rallying point for observers, independent members of TECs and candidates in local elections and single-mandate constituencies. In his social networks, Larionov talks about what grassroots politics looks like in Russia now - and who is ready to join it even in modern conditions that are close to totalitarian.

At the end of April, Larionov announced that he himself would run for the State Duma as a self-nominated candidate. He promised to fight internet blocking, corruption, election irregularities and poor city cleaning. To figure out what the face of the new generation looks like in Russian politics, “Wind” interviewed Larionov.

— Do you remember at what age you first became interested in politics?

— In general, I never wanted to get involved in politics. I studied to become a history and social studies teacher and had great difficulty finding a job in my specialty. And it so happened that I then began to defend the rights of participants in the educational process.

In general, for this work I received a “cosmic” 11 thousand rubles a month. It was 2019. And they wanted to make my salary even lower, reduce the number of working hours. And, of course, I decided that I wanted to fight for my labor rights. This is how I was taught: that there is an employment contract, there are norms, there is a law on education. And then I saw that it was not being respected. How does this happen?

- Well, many politicians started with this... But still, there is a decent distance from such a private struggle for rights to going to the polls. How did you come up with this idea - after all, frankly speaking, it’s bold in today’s times?

- It’s also a good question, in fact, how bold this idea is. A lot of guys [across the country] are also involved in useful activism. Somewhere they print leaflets, somewhere they try to organize rallies, some go out on single pickets. We are now in such a political situation that it seems to me that it is simply impossible to be outside of politics. When you come to the polls and see that you don’t have a candidate for whom you want to vote... Or, for example, you are a state employee, and you are forced to vote electronically, and then you cannot even check your vote and the result. Yes, or it’s elementary: you want to go to work, or maybe after hard work you’re driving home tired, put on your headphones and turn on cool music. And then you hear that Roskomnadzor cut out the words from your favorite song.

You can pretend that you don't notice all this. And completely surrender your rights and freedoms to the discretion of the constantly advancing machine, which crushes your various rights like a roller. Or you can try to do something about it. Even if sometimes it is action for the sake of action. So that there is at least something, at least some kind of activity, to fight for normalcy around you, and not sit with your hands folded. So that there is less repressive legislation and more at least some useful legislation. And so on.

— You’ve probably already had to argue about this with one of your friends or relatives - how do you respond to objections that now it’s definitely safer and more expedient to deal with private projects and stories? By the way, how did your family react to your idea of ​​running for office?

- Let me start answering from the end. My family and friends fully support me. After 2022, I met many activists and acquaintances who have very different views from their parents. I was lucky in this sense. My parents, my close friends, acquaintances - everyone fully supports me in my endeavors. It actually helps a lot to get the job done.

A year ago, I tried to run for the Kaluga City Duma; however, I was not allowed, but that’s not the point (in 2020, Larionov also ran there from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - approx.). So I walked along the streets and asked [passers-by]: do you support United Russia? Local authorities? Just random people on the street - young, old, anyone. Did someone say yes? Simple zero. Not a single person. And you think: “If only they’d let us in just a little bit, we’d get through. And not just us." And so on at any level: the city duma, the regional legislative assembly. And higher.

— How are you going to conduct your campaign? Did I understand correctly, you want to run in a single-member constituency as a non-party member? This is probably more difficult than through some party?

— Of course, it’s easier using party lists. And I won’t say that such approaches are not made through my friends. But for now it’s pointless to talk about it, it’s not yet known whether it will work out or not. If you run as a self-nominated candidate, you need to collect 24 thousand signatures. This is a huge amount. In addition, in the Kaluga region we have reduced the number of districts from two to one.

But we have lawyers, we have activists, we have experience in collecting signatures from Boris Nadezhdin’s campaign. A huge number of specialists have remained since that moment. Our analysts are simply the best guys.

Therefore, the main issue is financial. If the elections work out, we submit documents, collect signatures, and do everything possible to win. If it doesn’t work out, on my website there are projects that we have carried out, are running and will continue to lead. In general, we are simply using this campaign to speak louder about the problems in the country.

And we have another project - it will probably seem familiar... We call it "protest voting"! We will campaign for the second strongest.

- Oh, this reminds me of something...

“Call it what you want, but this is a true strategy that has been tried and worked not only in our country. For example, in Turkey, the mayor of Istanbul, in my opinion, won at some point (Ekrem Imamoglu, who was opposed to Erdogan, headed the largest Turkish metropolis from 2019 to 2025 and was arrested after trying to run for presidential elections; all opposition political forces in Turkey really campaigned for him in the 2019 mayoral elections in Istanbul in a consolidated manner . - Ed. ). Therefore, we will still find a way to fight for our rights, in elections to the State Duma or with the help of other projects.

— Let’s imagine an ideal scenario: you passed, you were registered, everything worked out, you were elected, and now the first day of the new convocation of the Duma comes. What will be your first steps to implement your election program?

- Well, for starters, of course, we will be very happy. But in a day we will definitely get to work. This is an interesting question, what to do first... In fact, there are so many problems in the country that I just don’t know what to grab onto. Probably, first of all, we need to fight for rights and freedoms in connection with the blocking of the Internet. Or, again, a situation related to this, in fact, when people apply for rallies, but they are all refused. Plus, we urgently need to initiate the abolition of electronic voting . We will take on everything gradually.

— And if you still go through the party, which, if it’s not a secret, do you like better? And in general, what kind of politics? Who do you look up to, who are you inspired by?

- Well, probably by our politicians of the recent past. Leaders of the Russian opposition. In particular, Boris Nemtsov.

As for the first question... If you are going to be nominated, it makes absolutely no difference from which party. The only thing is that we will not call for voting for those parties that definitely will not pass the five percent threshold, otherwise the votes of Russians will be redistributed in favor of “United Russia” - this is how the system works. And if you are invited to nominate from a party where there is no need to collect signatures, then it makes no difference from whom you nominate.

— By the way, I forgot to ask, when we talked about collecting signatures, how strict is the timing?

“You have to do everything in a month, if I understand correctly.” Somewhere at the end of June or July, the initial acceptance of documents ends. And if everything is ok, then there is time until the end of July - beginning of August to collect signatures. Which may also not be accepted the first time, for example.

— The peak of the holiday and summer season, yeah.

- Well, we only have presidential elections in the spring. And everyone else is at such a time that not all voters have time to return from their dachas by election day. And even more so during the collection of signatures. The dishonesty of elections manifests itself in this too. This is not necessary when someone comes with a stack of ballots...

— What do you think about “SVO”? Where is everything going? And are you going to somehow articulate your position? Here the answer is “no,” of course, a completely legitimate position, which also has a right to exist; Probably everyone understands why.

“We act according to our resources and weight, so to speak. While we are a small organization, albeit with several regional headquarters, we do not touch on this topic at all, simply because it is dangerous. This is not the level at which we are able to make Russia better. We simply do not have any resources for this. Of course, if I am elected as a deputy, the resources and level will be slightly different. So we'll wait and see.

- Aren't you scared?

- You know, sometimes in winter you think: to go to the store or not to go. The roofs there are poorly cleaned, the icicles are large, and something can fall on your head. But in the end you still go, buy bread, sausage, make sandwiches. Because it's necessary. We don’t just protect the rights of a certain part of Russians, but everyone, and even the police officers themselves. I am convinced that they also do not like, for example, the same Internet blocking. Yes, we understand the risks - but it’s simply impossible to do it any other way. You can turn a blind eye to politics, but what to do if it has already opened your eyes?

Author: Andrey Karpinsky