Current:Home > StocksRussian presidential hopeful calling for peace in Ukraine meets with soldiers’ wives-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Russian presidential hopeful calling for peace in Ukraine meets with soldiers’ wives
View Date:2024-12-23 20:27:02
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian presidential hopeful opposing Moscow’s military action in Ukraine met Thursday with a group of soldiers’ wives who are demanding that their husbands be discharged from the front line.
Longtime Kremlin critic Boris Nadezhdin, who serves as a local legislator in a town near Moscow, is collecting signatures to qualify for the race to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the March 15-17 vote.
Speaking at a meeting with wives of Russian servicemen who were mobilized to fight in Ukraine, Nadezhdin, 60, criticized the government’s decision to keep them in the ranks as long as the fighting continues.
“We want them to treat people who are doing their duty in a decent way,” he said.
Wives of some of the reservists who were called up for service in the fall of 2022 have campaigned for their husbands to be discharged from duty and replaced with contract soldiers.
Their demands have been stonewalled by the government-controlled media, and some pro-Kremlin politicians have sought to cast them as Western stooges — accusations the women angrily rejected.
The mobilization of 300,000 reservists that Putin ordered in 2022 amid military setbacks in Ukraine was widely unpopular and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee abroad to avoid being drafted.
Aware of the public backlash, the military since then has increasingly sought to bolster the forces in Ukraine by enlisting more volunteers. The authorities claimed that about 500,000 signed contracts with the Defense Ministry last year.
During Thursday’s meeting, Nadezhdin, a member of the local council in the town of Dolgoprudny just outside Moscow, reaffirmed his call for a quick end to the fighting in Ukraine.
He spoke with optimism about his presidential bid, arguing that his calls for peace are getting increasing traction and he has received donations from thousands of people.
“I will keep moving for as long as I feel public support,” he said. “Millions of people are supporting me.”
Under Russian law, independent candidates like Nadezhdin must gather at least 300,000 signatures from 40 regions or more.
Another presidential hopeful who called for peace in Ukraine, former regional legislator Yekaterina Duntsova, was barred from the race last month after the Central Election Commission refused to accept her nomination, citing technical errors in her paperwork.
The election commission already has approved three candidates for the ballot who were nominated by parties represented in parliament and therefore weren’t required to collect signatures: Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party.
All three parties have been largely supportive of the Kremlin’s policies. Kharitonov had run against Putin in 2004, finishing a distant second.
The tight control over Russia’s political system that Putin has established during 24 years in power makes his reelection in March all but assured. Prominent critics who could challenge him on the ballot are either in jail or living abroad, and most independent media have been banned.
Under constitutional reforms he orchestrated, Putin is eligible to seek two more six-year terms after his current term expires this year, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036.
veryGood! (13287)
Related
- Padma Lakshmi, John Boyega, Hunter Schafer star in Pirelli's 2025 calendar: See the photos
- A fuel leak forces a US company to abandon its moon landing attempt
- Golden Globes brings in 9.4 million viewers, an increase in ratings
- Nearly a third of Americans expect mortgage rates to fall in 2024
- What does the top five look like and other questions facing the College Football Playoff committee
- Way-too-early Top 25: College football rankings for 2024 are heavy on SEC, Big Ten
- Hezbollah launches drone strike on base in northern Israel. Israel’s military says there’s no damage
- Mississippi governor says he wants young people to stop leaving the state
- The Latin Grammys are almost here for a 25th anniversary celebration
- Kate Middleton Receives Royally Sweet Message From King Charles III on Her 42nd Birthday
Ranking
- Diddy's ex-bodyguard sues rape accuser for defamation over claims of 2001 assault
- Thierry Henry says he had depression during career and cried “almost every day” early in pandemic
- Mean Girls’ Daniel Franzese Reveals Where He Thinks Damien Is Today
- Maryland Gov. Wes Moore proposes public safety measures
- Vermont man is fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
- Wisconsin judge rules that absentee voting van used in 2022 was illegal
- How Texas officials stymied nonprofits' efforts to help migrants they bused to northern cities
- The best TV of early 2024: Here's what to watch in January
Recommendation
-
Detroit-area police win appeal over liability in death of woman in custody
-
Aid group says 6,618 migrants died trying to reach Spain by boat in 2023, more than double 2022
-
Family of British tourist among 5 killed in 2018 Grand Canyon helicopter crash wins $100M settlement
-
Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel in response to killing of top Hamas leader
-
Darren Criss on why playing a robot in 'Maybe Happy Ending' makes him want to cry
-
Details on Prince Andrew allegations emerge from new Jeffrey Epstein documents — but no U.K. police investigation
-
Melanie Mel B Brown Reveals Victoria Beckham Is Designing Her Wedding Dress
-
At Golden Globes, Ayo Edebiri of The Bear thanks her agent's assistants, the people who answer my emails