Boris Nadeždin, the 'hope' of Russia that is not with Putin

He has condemned the war in Ukraine and has already collected over 200,000 signatures to participate in the presidential elections on 17 March. Many see his candidacy as a classic move by the Kremlin to give the impression of a genuine democratic contest, but his growing popularity is beginning to arouse perplexity and annoyance in the circle of power.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The 60-year-old former deputy of the State Duma Boris Nadeždin (the surname means "man of hope"), originally from Uzbekistan, is the only candidate for the presidency of Russia who has condemned the war in Ukraine.

He has already collected over 200 thousand signatures for the presentation of his candidacy, waiting for the Election Committee to validate it to compete with Vladimir Putin for the highest position in the Federation in the elections on March 17th.

In reality, Nadeždin also collected many signatures among Russians who had emigrated abroad, but he refused to add them to avoid legal conflicts and accusations of "Western" political interference.

His name was presented by the "Civil Initiative" party, also because as an independent he would have had to exceed 300 thousand signatures, an objective that was considered unrealistic, but which today appears more than possible.

Many believe his candidacy is the classic Kremlin move to give the impression of a true democratic competition, as happened with those of Ksenja Sobchak in 2018 and Mikhail Prokhorov in 2012, when he obtained 7.9% of the votes, the maximum result of the “opposition to Putin”.

Now Nadeždin is being predicted an honorable 3%, the maximum that the Tsar is willing to grant (Sobchak stopped below 2%).

Nadeždin explained his choice to run with a striking phrase: "I believe that our country is heading towards a catastrophe, which the current president is leading us towards".

At the beginning of his political career he was a member of the liberal party of the Union of Right Forces, he also participated in the primaries of United Russia and was elected to the Duma with the pro-Putin party of “Just Russia” and often spoke in debates television as independent.

Graduated in physical-mathematical sciences, born in Tashkent into a family of musicians (his grandfather Boris was sent from Moscow to the Uzbek Conservatory, a monument is dedicated to him), he refused to continue the family tradition, stating that "unfortunately or for luckily a bear stepped on my ear.”

As a young man he was a "Soviet entrepreneur" and founder of a cooperative, and became a deputy in the Gorbachev period, collaborating with the Yeltsin governor and prime minister Boris Nemtsov, the leader of the liberals assassinated by Chechen assassins in February 2015 in front of the Kremlin, and also with the other "Yeltsinian dolphin" Sergei Kirienko, today one of Putin's loyalists.

Boris reiterates at every opportunity that he has not agreed with the Kremlin on his candidacy, and his growing popularity actually seems to arouse perplexity and annoyance in Putin's power circle.

When asked about the lack of consequences for his anti-war statements, he replies that "I have been criticizing Putin for his choices for twenty years and I am still alive, at liberty and they didn't even put me on the list of foreign agents: it shows who don't consider me dangerous."

Now confirmation of the candidacy is awaited, and forecasts point towards a rejection due to "poor quality of signatures". He himself acknowledges that he “has no guarantee that they will let me run”, but the platform granted so far allows him to state publicly that “none of the objectives of the SVO [the special military operation] have been achieved; Putin made a fatal mistake, and now to achieve something he is causing irreparable damage to our economy and the demographics of our people."

Nadeždin's kind and far from polemical personality is proving to be the only possibility of opening up some glimmers of possible changes. “I'll tell you a secret: I am a Russian patriot - he likes to repeat -, but Putin only sees the Russia of the past, while Russia needs a future”.

His candidacy must be confirmed by February 10, but Boris has already achieved his victory, showing the face of a different and peaceful Russia.