For years, Russian propagandists and government officials did their best to portray the U.S. elections as deeply flawed and unreliable. They openly rejoiced when former President Donald J. Trump and media personalities like Tucker Carlson helped their argument by claiming that elections in America can be easily faked or stolen.
Aside from discrediting the United States, the subterfuge of criticizing Western democracies provides a veil of legitimacy for Russia’s own elections, which are more of a show than a real democratic process, considering Vladimir Putin’s unrelenting grip on power.
In light of a predetermined outcome, the spectacle is so irrelevant that the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, suggested canceling the upcoming presidential election while the invasion of Ukraine is still underway, or holding elections with Putin as the sole candidate. Top Russian propagandists like Vladimir Solovyov, State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov, film director Karen Shakhnazarov and many others repeatedly pointed out that Putin is essentially the only candidate and faces no real opposition. This is a feature, not a bug, since every strong opposition figure is either dead, in exile, or languishing in prison after unsuccessful poisoning attempts, like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny.
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Those allowed to participate in the charade that is the Russian presidential election are well aware of their token position and the precarious way in which they must operate: both pretending to run for president and skillfully avoiding any pretense of opposing Putin—or actually winning.
So far, only three candidates were officially approved to participate in the election to be held from March 15 to March 17: Liberal Democratic Party candidate Leonid Slutsky, who currently serves as head of the state Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, Nikolay Kharitonov, of the Communist Party, and the New People Party candidate Vladislav Davankov.
During a recent press conference, an unidentified reporter asked Davankov, “Are you planning to win?” The candidate looked away and laughed. He said, “It depends on what you consider to be a victory.”
A reporter asked State Duma member Nikolay Kharitonov, “Do you think you can win?” He cautiously replied, “I can’t talk this way, to win or not to win.”
A slew of other contenders are trying to throw their hats into the ring, but they harbor no illusions as to their chances in the process.
Andrei Bogdanov, chairman of the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice, was quite forthcoming when he was asked, “Are you planning to win?” Bogdanov replied, “Of course not! Do I look like an idiot?”
State Duma member Sergey Baburin said that he “plans to do everything to consolidate Russian society.” When he was asked whether he plans to win the presidential election, Baburin replied, “You should always dare to dream.” The reporter insisted, “But are you planning to win?” Baburin hesitated for a moment and then replied, “You know, only Lord God can plan.”
Igor Girkin, also known by the alias Igor Strelkov, who is in custody awaiting trial for inciting extremism, wanted to run for president, even though he acknowledged that the upcoming election would be a mere imitation and its “winner” is predetermined in advance. Girkin is a former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who took part in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its initial invasion of Eastern Ukraine. In November 2022, a Dutch court found Girkin and two of his collaborators guilty of the murder of 298 people onboard flight MH17, which was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile when it was flying over Eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Girkin and his followers were unable to successfully file the paperwork for his attempted presidential candidacy, since their signatures had to be notarized and multiple notaries refused to cooperate with them in the process.
Former regional legislator Yekaterina Duntsova’s nomination was rejected by Russia’s Central Election Commission, which claimed to have found over 100 mistakes in her paperwork, including alleged spelling errors. Russia’s Supreme Court rejected Duntsova’s appeal against the commission’s decision. Duntsova is calling for peace and urged her supporters to help former State Duma member Boris Nadezhdin, who vocally urged the Kremlin to cease the hostilities and to negotiate with Ukraine.
When he was asked by a reporter whether he plans to win, Nadezhdin replied with chilling realism and sincerity. He said, “You know, I just hope that at the conclusion of this electoral campaign I will stay alive, remain free, and won’t be declared a foreign agent.”
