The party leader of Civil Initiative, a center-right liberal movement, Boris Nadezhdin submitted the required signatures to the Central Election Commission this Wednesday to register his bid for Russia’s presidential election scheduled for March 17 next year. Unlike many competitors, he has openly discussed negotiating with Ukraine rather than pursuing a purely confrontational approach and has critiqued how the current conflict has been managed.
“Boris hasn’t been jailed yet, but he will be.” This is how a prominent propagandist framed the situation in September 2022 on a widely watched talk show. The same personality has also suggested extreme actions and frequently sparked public outcry with provocative statements. Critics quickly challenged his calls for direct talks with Kyiv officials.
Following a clip about Boris Nadezhdin that went viral, a well-known Russian propagandist questioned why he had not yet faced imprisonment. Nadezhdin criticized unnamed officials for advising President Putin against invading Ukraine and urged peace talks. He also shared that the country could focus more on its citizens, especially in light of unusual heating outages in several regions. He pledged to allocate substantial resources to the army while pursuing dialogue with Moscow’s counterparts.
During a previous appearance on the Pervy Channel program, he asserted that the Soviet Union’s actions in Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe had shaped certain narratives. This stance drew sharp criticism from commentators who argued that the Soviet Army had actually “liberated” those areas. In another broadcast, he criticized intelligence briefings that urged Putin to initiate an attack on Ukraine, warning that such advice could fail to foresee the level of Ukrainian resistance.
political career
Unlike many rivals, Nadezhdin offered a ray of hope to voters who lined up to sign up for his candidacy. By deployment time, he had gathered roughly 105,000 signatures. He remains aware that the road to the presidency is steep, yet the 60-year-old pacifist has accepted the challenge with resolve. His experience spans politics long before his current campaign; he previously served as a deputy for the Union of Right Forces in Russia’s State Duma from 1999 to 2003 and later held various regional roles.
For some time, he worked behind the scenes, becoming a more visible option as March elections approached. AFP reported that his candidacy was framed as a lawful form of protest against the status quo. Other hopefuls encountered numerous hurdles that hindered their campaigns. Yekaterina Duntsova, for example, announced her run but was barred by the Central Election Commission, with reports highlighting bank account blocks and other political pressures that accompanied the denial.