Russia presidential race: Anti-war Putin rival Nadezhdin submits presidential bid • FRANCE 24

Russian anti-war presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin on Wednesday delivered 105,000 signatures in his support to the Central Election Commission (CEC), technically enough to challenge incumbent Vladimir Putin in a March election. Nobody expects Nadezhdin, 60, to win. The victory of 71-year-old Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister since the end of 1999 and controls all the state’s levers, is widely seen as a foregone conclusion.