The Russian politicians challenging Putin

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With the Russian presidential election only about a week away, all polling points to a landslide victory for Vladimir Putin in the first round. But the opposition claims the elections are not fair, and that Russia has a lot of problems that his administration has failed to address during his time in office.

One of those who is trying to oust Putin is the leader of the Russian Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov. He has been a familiar face in the political life of Russia for almost 30 years. His party held a Moscow rally on freezing March day for a support to a different presidential candidate.

For the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gennady Zyuganov will not run for president of Russia, as a candidate for the Russian Communist Party. Instead, Pavel Grudinin, a local businessman, will take the helm of this campaign of the Russian communists.

Gennady Zyuganov, leader of Communist Party of Russia ahead of the rally in Moscow /CGTN Photo

A number of people gathered here, waving old communist flags and handing out copies of the newspaper “Soviet Russia.”

From the stage Pavel Grudinin, addressed to those that defied snow and freezing weather:

"Only we can give dignity to a lot of people in our country, creating an environment for them to earn adequate salaries and pensions. The current policy makers are scared of that. That’s why the oligarchs and the bureaucrats, who are running TV channels, did everything to pour dirt on me.”

Favorites of the West

Just a day earlier, a different and more modern style of anti-Putin activism took place in front of one of Moscow’s metro stations. This time, it was supporters for presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak.

Ksenia Sobchak, presidential candidate /Sobchak campaign Photo

She’s the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, former mentor to Vladimir Putin. People here have gathered to sign up to become election observers. Sobchak campaigners hope that before the March 18, more than 5,000 will take part in Moscow alone. They claim past Russian elections have been marred by fraud, but that’s not stopping them.

As Head of Regional Headquarters Network for Ksenia Sobchak, Timur Valeev claims, even these elections are not fair, but yet, they’ve decided to participate:

"Ksenia Sobchak now has access to the national media, and she is the only one among all the candidates that speaks thetruth, pointing out the problems that exist in the country. It’s huge plus when millions of people in this country can hear the truth, and because of that, we need to participate in the elections.”

There is another opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who is considered by some to be the strongest opponent to Putin. But in December, he was banned from participating in the elections on legal grounds that were strongly disputed both here in Russia and abroad. Yet, despite his image in the media, some analysts claim that Navalny is more the champion of the West than the Russians themselves.

Dmitry Babich is among them. According to him, there is a link between the West’s goals to take down Putin with the support to Alexei Navalny.

Dmitry Babich, a political analyst /CGTN Photo

"The West decided to put its stake on Navalny, who is at the same time nationalist, pro-Western and very anti-Putin. Their aim is to divide, it’s not necessary for them for a liberal to win, the main thing is division of the Russian society. That’s why they’ve invested so much in him. However, that investment so far has not yielded any particular results.”

As most expect, Putin will win in these elections, but as appears at the Russian political scene, for the next six years he’ll have to face a growing opposition throughout the country.