1y ago

An unlikely challenger to Putin brings a rare show of defiance, creating a dilemma for the Kremlin

apnews.com An unlikely challenger to Putin brings a rare show of defiance, creating a dilemma for the Kremlin

Thousands of people across Russia are signing petitions to support the longshot candidacy of Boris Nadezhdin.

Boris Nadezhdin seeks to run in the March 17 presidential election in Russia. The question now is whether authorities will allow him on the ballot.

The stocky, bespectacled 60-year-old local legislator and academic has struck a chord with the public, openly calling for a halt to the conflict in Ukraine, the end of mobilizing Russian men for the military, and starting a dialogue with the West. He also has criticized the country’s repression of LGBTQ+ activism.

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1y ago

An unlikely challenger to Putin brings a rare show of defiance, creating a dilemma for the Kremlin

apnews.com /article/russia-putin-election-boris-nadezhdin-ukraine-0bfd3bfd0ba2607f57cad643ea20d196

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40 comments

He better stay away from any windows not on the ground floor.
- He better install Linux on his PC. Windows can be deadly 🪟💀
  
  An Apple a day keeps the Kremlin away
- Only in Russia can you fall 87 feet to your death from the basement.
- And tea, Russian tea is deadly.
  
  Underpants, visits to the park, doorknobs.. these guys have no quarrel killing indiscriminately to get to their target.

Yeah there we go. I've never heard of this guy before, but the description doesn't paint him to be just another a lesser evil at least. I hope this guy gains momentum.
- Hopefully that momentum is not gathered at a rate of 9.8 (m/s)/s.
- Most likely he'll gain momentum from the 5th floor to the ground, unfortunately
- He'll be dealt with before he becomes an actual threat

Does anyone believe they have non-rigged elections in Russia?
It doesn’t matter how many people they let run, they’re never winning.
- I am a stupid russian man.
  I hope my support to him would at least be shown to the Putin guy, on printed papers how he likes it.
  I've donated and signed it for our powerholders to know that I hate them and strive for a change. I'm in doubt they'd change their ways after that, but that's the most legal and safe way to show that I hate them. And I couldn't've missed it.
  
  Seconding this as another Russia, another singee for Nadezhdin.
  The most important aspect here is let people act and get out of rut of feeling powerless and alone, which is exactly what's been cultivated by Putin and his regime for decades. A lot of people never do anything because they've learned to see it as pointless, both through propaganda and through other commenters' apathy, which is often propaganda, too.
  First there was Duntsova with her signatures and candidature, then many protested in Bashkortostan, then mostly self-organised to find a cat that was thrown into the cold out of a train by the conductor/stewardess, now Nadezhdin with his signatures amidst the coldest time of the year, traditionally long Russian winter holidays and rush to get everything done - people are seizing any opportunity to show themselves and others that not everyone is a warmongering blood-thirsty maniac, and that's a very good thing.
  Some have been very skeptical about Nadezhdin and the elections, but even if all that proves to be worthless and fruitless in the end, there's still a much greater benefit in trying to do something, confirming that there's many like-minded people around - and it's much, much more helpful than any apathetic take saying that the Kremlin will deal with Nadezhdin in one way or another; sometimes it feels like people want Putin gone, but hush and shame any attempts to do so, except for the unrealistically idealistic ones like a brutal revolution.
  
  Ни пуха ни пера!
- Russian politics isn't primarily about rigging the elections. That alone will create a dissatisfied populace, you don't want this. You want complacency, fear, ignorance, apathy, patriotism, pragmatism. Ideally you want to maintain a strong authentic base that will preserve the status quo and keep you in power. Alternatives, in such a system, need to be destroyed, discredited, or assimilated, they can't become a loudspeaker for growing dissatisfaction with the status quo.
  
  And yet every election there is widespread fraud.
  Didn't we even watch them on CCTV last time doing it or was that the time before? It gets hard to remember when, when there so much of it.
- It's actually very hard to override people's votes. Countries like this usually take unused votes and put them in the government's candidate AFAIK. There's nothing they can do if he actually makes it on the ballot and, say, all of Russia votes for him. Which is why anyone with a risk of something like that happening is executed by suicide.
  
  The latter isn't always the case, but the rest is very accurate. I try to use my skills in English to offer people outside Russia some insights, both to help them understand this place a little more and help myself cope with everything a little better, but your post is precise and concise, which is best for this kind of case; I just can't stop talking and end up writing confusing and complicated paragraphs because ei get emotional and try to put too many things into a single comment.
  So good job and thank you!

I’m not going to take the easy route and make window or tea jokes like every other time Russians are mentioned on this site..
I hope he gets on the ballet and at least gets the populace to consider an alternative. He needs to be kept under constant guard and be very careful the rest of his days for openly opposing the oligarchs or they’ll end his campaign.
I don’t think his odds are good, but i hope one day we’ll see a world with a truly democratic russia sitting at the table and truly wanting peace
- Even if he ends up on the ballot, there's no way in hell that he will get fair elections and does have any chance of ousting Putin. Putin has killed a lot of Russians to get into the positions he's currently in to give it up now.

Places your bets, which is it:
He isn't a credible 'threat' to Putin, and the state media is letting him get away with some visibility so that he can be crushed in the definitely-not-completely-fake polls in order to preserve the democracy kayfabe. Possibly to achieve a domestic policy goal like getting out of the Ukraine war without losing as much face for Putin.
He is a credible threat and will be dealt with brutally and violently.
He is a sockpuppet. Either of Putin or the next generation of Russian leaders who, in proud Soviet tradition, are going to honor and glorify Putin in his retirement then quietly delete and replace his history and influence with their own.
- This is controlled opposition and it's critical for the Putin regime.
  Controlled opposition doesn't require direct collusion, but it doesn't preclude it either. It just means he's useful for Putin maintaining democratic legitimacy or even just the illusion of it.
  Regardless, if he was an actual threat to Putin, he wouldn't be allowed to remain in any elected office.
  I'm fairly confident in this assessment. However, if he's found in motel with a dead hooker and a live boy, or falls out a window, feel free to call me out and rub my noise in it.
- I bet on the first option. It's maybe a way of convincing the people that all those topics were opinions of the minority. The protests and therefore resistance might quiet down if enough people think that the average citizen would support the war and Putin in general.

...aaaand he's gone.

If somebody like him actually runs, it will only happen to gauge public support for peace. He is never going to win, but if he should have won Putin might try to go for a peace deal in Ukraine.
- All digital voting this time around. So no worries about the votes, nor the outcome.

Not really unlikely. He's been trying to get on the ballot for years. There's a lot of stuff like this that never makes it on the English speaking Internet. I'm also surprised that he is still alive, but I wish him all the luck in the world

Boris Nadezhdin is a hero. I am deeply saddened by what is about to happen to him.
Conservative governments do not tolerate challengers.

I'm hopeless about this situation either way. i wish the Russian government would once more become a beacon of technology and stand in its own feet instead of trying to find a future in invading other countries. the current path is a path into the medieval times and the result is not wealth. I'm not even pro capitalism, but this is plain unintelligent and wasteful.

This man is controlled opposition, but it might be controlled opposition that has gone a bit too far for the Kremlin. We'll see.

A tiny candle in the dark, but it may be blown out any time by the storm that is ravaging this country right now.

What’s the dilemma, which window to throw him out of, how many bullets to use, what?

40 comments