Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old veteran politician with a background in physics, promises to end Putin’s “fatal mistake” in Ukraine, halt mobilization and free political prisoners, including Alexei Navalny. He also pledges to reverse anti-LGBTQ+ and military censorship laws.
Nadezhdin has been criticized by some for being ambiguous on the status of Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as recently occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, saying it should be left up to their residents to decide which country they want to be part of. And although he criticizes the Ukraine war as Putin’s “fatal mistake,” he refers to it as a “special military operation,” the euphemism coined by Putin. Nadezhdin defends this as a necessary precaution to avoid falling foul of military censorship laws.
Nadezhdin is now required to submit 100,000 signatures, which must be spread over at least 40 regions, to Russia’s Central Elections Committee by the end of January.
Speaking to POLITICO on Thursday by phone, Nadezhdin attributed his success so far to a “number of miracles” and “astonishing things.”
The first was that he managed to get the liberal Civic Initiative party to back him, reducing the number of administrative hurdles he was facing.
The second, that thousands of people started donating money and signing up as volunteers.
