At a tiny kitchen table on the 10th floor of the provincial capital of Petrozavodsk in Karelia, Dmitrij Korolyov explains to me about a few hectic days in mid-January.
– I sat down here, he says and sits down on one of two stools.
The kitchen table with two stools is the only furniture left in the grandmother’s apartment. A few weeks ago, people stood like herring in a barrel in the small kitchen to sign in support of Boris Nadezhdin. No one else in Karelia collected as many signatures as Dmitry.
Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / NRK
Voters had to wait their turn to sit on the other stool. They were given a signature list, a pen and instructions on how to write their name, address and date. They certainly did not have to write the year with just two numbers, “24”. Then the signature would be known as invalid. It had to say “2024”.
Petrozavodsk is the capital of the Autonomous Russian Republic of Karelia.
Dmitri taps his index finger on the table, as if the signature list was still there. NRK’s correspondent is never in doubt that he did his part to ensure that things went right for him.
It would turn out not to be enough. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Russia rejected Nadezhdin’s appeal against exclusion from the presidential election.
– The head of the Supreme Court is Putin’s slave. It is Putin who nominates all the judges, who are then approved by the Federation Council, says Dmitrij after the ruling becomes known.
The Federation Council is the “upper house” of the Russian National Assembly. The president appoints 30 of the 208 members, the rest are elected from the 89 Russian federal subjects. Each “subject” or region sends two people.
Rejected signatures
The signatures collected by Dmitrij nevertheless turned out to be insufficient, according to the Central Electoral Commission.
Far too many of the signatures for Nadezhdin were still deficient, according to the central election commission. Out of 105,000 signatures, over 9,000 were rejected. The claim was 100,000 valid. In total, they had collected 211,000. But according to the Electoral Act, it is not possible to secure yourself by submitting several signatures.
Boris Nadezhdin delivers boxes with signatures to the Central Election Commission on 31 January.
Photo: Nadezhdin’s staff
Nadezhdin was therefore not approved as a presidential candidate and Putin’s challenger. He appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. The case was processed, but as expected, he was not successful.
A protest against the war
Back in the empty apartment of Dmitri’s late grandmother.
– On the first day, two people came. On the second day, there were 18. On the third day, 50 arrived, and a long queue formed in the hallway in front of the lift, he explains.
He says most people came to show that they are against the war in Ukraine, or “SVO” – as the war is called here. None of Putin’s three approved challengers in the March 17 election are anti-war.
But several of the neighbors were furious. According to Dmitrij, they could not believe that the apartment was being used for an election campaign, especially not for a candidate who is against Putin.
Dmitry Korolyov started the collection of signatures in this block of flats, near the center of Petrozavodsk.
Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / NRK
It got physical. People in the signature queue were pushed and scolded. Dmitrij himself is a slender 32-year-old. He had to find a new place.
No campaign losses
Almost 530,000 inhabitants live in the Karelian Republic. But there was no headquarters for Boris Nadezhdin’s election campaign. Everything took place “mobile”, on the initiative of those who signed up for service. As Dmitry, he contacted Nadezhdin’s staff in Moscow to obtain the signature lists.
They only arrived on 15 January, about two weeks before they were supposed to be checked, packed and ready for submission to the Central Electoral Commission.
– The number of the bank account of Nadezhdin’s election campaign staff had to be on the lists. But they were not allowed to open the account until after the long holiday around New Year and Russian Christmas Eve. It seemed chaotic, says Dmitri.
Banks and public offices did not reopen until January 9.
Competed with Putin lists
Dmitrij tried his hand at collecting at several shopping centers in Petrozavodsk.
Dmitry outside the mall where they were thrown out.
Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / NRK
On one of them he stood just inside the entrance, and again a queue formed. Next to it was a stand in support of Vladimir Putin’s candidacy.
– There was no queue with them, nor did I see any lists to fill out. Nevertheless, they threw us out, so that we would not disturb them in collecting signatures. We were sent out into the cold, it was around minus 25. Still, people came up to us to sign, Dmitri smiles.
– Nadezhdin is too brave
In relation to the population, more signatures were collected in support of Nadezhdin in Karelia than anywhere else in Russia.
But on the streets of Petrozavodsk, opinions are naturally divided.
– He is a little too active. It scares me, says a woman who does not want to give us her name.
This woman would not have voted for Nadezhdin if he had been approved. She thinks he is too brave.
Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / NRK
– How active, asks NRK’s correspondent.
– A little too brave. Courage is not welcome in our time, she says with a disarming smile.
– I am completely indifferent, a traitor is a traitor, says well-grown Nikolaj.
Then there are those who might have supported him.
– I might have voted for him. I agree with much of what he stands for, says Jevgenij.
– Like he is against the war and wants to end it?
– Yes, but he hasn’t said how he will put an end to it. I would like to know that first, it is not easy.
– I signed. I am for him, because I do not at all agree with the policy pursued by the authorities, says Ajrat.
Ajrat is one of those who signed for Nadezhdin as a protest against the policies of the Putin regime.
Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / NRK
It is not common here to say outright “because I am against the war”, as it is a criminal offense to discredit the country’s armed forces and the country’s authorities.
Nadezhdin and the way out of the war
Najdezjdin himself has called the war “a fatal mistake”. He has also said that Putin was misled by his own intelligence into believing that the Ukrainian resistance would be short-lived and ineffective.
As president, an immediate ceasefire would be the first priority, he has stated.
But he refuses to commit to Russian withdrawal from occupied Ukrainian territories. He was asked about it, among other things, on the YouTube channel “Zjivoj Gvozd” on February 8.
Again and again he answers with “negotiations”. But he has said he supports the Ukrainian position. Their demand is that everything Russia has occupied from 2014 to now must be returned.
Boris Nadezhdin was interviewed on the YouTube channel “Zjivoj Gvozd” on the same day that the election commission’s decision became known. The channel and its founder Aleksej Venediktov are labeled as “foreign agents”.
Not afraid
Dmitry will continue to work in support of Nadezhdin as long as he is ready against the war.
– I am not risking anything as long as it is about elections. The state does not persecute those who contribute within legal processes. But if I participated in one demonstration against the war, they would surely have persecuted me. Because the state does not like demonstrations, says the activist.
It is understood that “the state” and “Putin” are synonyms.
2024-02-22 12:53:16
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