And that, in six words, sums up politics in Russia when you have the cojones to even think about running against Vladimir Putin.

Boris Nadezhdin tried. He knew the odds were stacked against him. He knew he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. But he did better than anyone anticipated, and in the end he made a significant statement: Not everyone in Russia is pro-Putin or in favor of his “special military operation” in Ukraine.

But of the 105,000 signatures Nadezhdin submitted in support of his candidacy (100,000 are required), the Election Commission — surprise! surprise! — found “flaws” in more than 9,000 of them. A 5% error rate is permitted; they clearly needed to find more than that, and they did. Nadezhdin’s team says those were minor typos that occurred when the handwritten signatures were typed into the computers. Nice try, but “no” means “no,” where the Russian authorities are concerned.

Boris hasn’t given up yet. He says he’ll appeal to the Supreme Court, and that he’ll continue to campaign against Putin: “Sooner or later I will be president of the Russian Federation. I wish it would be sooner.” [AFP, Feb. 8, 2024.]

So do I. But until that day — if it ever comes — take care of yourself, Boris.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/8/24