There are three registered candidates besides Putin: the nationalist conservative Leonid Slutsky, the Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov, and the businessman Vladislav Davankov. They all support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin critics accuse Putin of being an autocratic war criminal who rules by fear. However, Russia’s Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) indicates that 80% of voters support him and view him as the authoritarian leader needed to stand up to the West.
Presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, a prominent critic of the war in Ukraine, was banned by the Central Election Commission (CEC), which refused to register him as a candidate in February. The CEC said flaws had been found in his collected signatures supporting his candidacy.
“I collected more than 200,000 signatures across Russia. We conducted the collection openly and honestly—the queues at our headquarters and collection points were watched by the whole world,” Nadezhdin said.
Putin, 71, is almost sure to extend his 24-year leadership of Russia, including eight years as prime minister, for at least another six years.
