Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian anti-war presidential candidate, submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday, which is technically enough to oppose incumbent Vladimir Putin in Russia’s March election.
No one expected Nadezhdin, 60, to win. The election of 71-year-old Putin, who has been in power as president or prime minister since the end of 1999 and controls all state levers, is widely regarded as certain.
However, Nadezhdin has startled some experts with his trenchant condemnation of what the Kremlin terms its “special military operation” in Ukraine, which he deems “a fatal mistake” and says he will try to halt through diplomacy.
