Russian presidential candidate gives up: “He was carefully advised not to take votes away from Putin”

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A month and a half before Russia’s presidential election, a candidate gave up before being officially registered and is instead campaigning for the re-election of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Sergei Baburin, 64, of the All-Russian People’s Union, brought several boxes to the Central Election Commission for the first time on Tuesday, reportedly containing the approximately 100,000 citizen signatures needed for a candidacy. However, a little later he announced that he would withdraw his application.

Baburin officially justified his sudden change of heart with the war in Ukraine. “In this difficult hour for the homeland, it is not time to divide the forces of the people,” Baburin said, according to state news agency Tass. The nationalist politician did not explain why he announced his candidacy and collected signatures in the first place.

Other applicants hardly stand a chance

Prominent journalist Alexei Venediktov suspected that Baburin had received a request from the power apparatus to give up. “He was gently advised to take even one percent from the president,” Venediktov, the former editor-in-chief of the now closed Kremlin-critical radio station Echo Moskvy, wrote on Telegram.

Russia’s March 17 presidential election is already overshadowed by allegations of rigging and, from the Kremlin’s perspective, serves primarily to secure Putin a fifth term in office. It is also intended to demonstrate the supposedly uninterrupted social support for Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Other candidates are considered to have no chance or even to support Putin. According to observers, they are mainly intended to suggest a choice that does not actually exist.

The only thing that is eagerly awaited is what will happen to Boris Nadezhdin – the only candidate who openly speaks out against the war. In recent days, people have queued up in many Russian cities to sign for Nadezhdin’s candidacy. But many fear that Russia’s election commission will use a pretext to throw the war opponent out of the race.

Source: Blick