Does Boris Nadezhdin stand a chance against Russia’s president Putin? | DW News

Russian presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin on Wednesday submitted more than 100,000 signatures from supporters needed to register as a candidate in the upcoming election. The Central Election Commission will check the authenticity of the signatures and must decide within 10 days whether he can run. “Millions of people” support his bid, the 60-year-old Kremlin critic said. “I don’t understand how these signatures could not be accepted.” Nadezhdin has said he did not expect such a “crazy wave” of support. “People understand that their lives and the safety of their families is threatened by what Putin is doing,” he said. Should the Central Election Commission reject his bid, he told supporters he is prepared to call for mass protests in 150 cities across the country. Nadezhdin’s call to end the war in Ukraine has also energised the Russian opposition.