Boris Nadezhdin announced he is ending his campaign for the State Duma and will not submit the collected signatures to the election commission. The politician said that for him, “the opportunities to legally engage in opposition politics in Russia are exhausted.”
Nadezhdin cited pressure from the authorities as the reason for halting the campaign. In recent weeks, the Justice Ministry designated him a “foreign agent,” police detained him, and a court found him guilty of displaying “extremist symbols” over a photograph of Alexei Navalny, fining him 1,000 rubles.
Nadezhdin said he is not willing to risk the safety of his family, campaign staff, and signature collectors. After his detention, the team deleted correspondence and cleared chats to ensure people’s security, he said.
The conviction, Nadezhdin noted, not only bars him from running in elections for at least a year but also prohibits him from teaching. Additionally, he has been banned from leaving Russia.
Nadezhdin did not rule out further repression. “A politician in Russia can face something worse than arrest. We all remember the fate of Nemtsov, we all remember the fate of Alexei Navalny,” he said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
Funds raised for the campaign account will go toward paying staff and signature collectors, Nadezhdin said. He thanked supporters, writing: “As long as there are people like you in Russia, hope will never be lost!”