Exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has announced his search to find Russia's next president.
The former Yukos chief is asking Russians to nominate potential Russian leaders via his project “Vmesto Putina” or “Instead of Putin.”
Khodorkovsky
confirmed that he would
financially
support a
candidate
chosen
through the project to
rival Russia's
current
president,
Vladimir Putin, in
the country's 2018 presidential elections.
He also confirmed that he would not run for president himself.
“For many years, Kremlin spin doctors have told the people of Russia that there is no alternative to Putin,” the project states on its website. “We want to show that among 145 million Russians, we have people who are able to take up the post.”
A panel of political experts have already put forward 13 notable figures who they would like to see receive Khodorkovsky's support. Russians will be able to back their favorite nominee via the project's website.
Candidates
include former Finance Minister Alexei
Kudrin, leader of Parnas opposition party Mikhail Kasyanov, and
former
judge Tatyana Morschakova.
The
nominations were made without
prior consultation, and
those put forward to take part in the project only heard of their own
involvement on Monday morning.
One
candidate, the deputy head
of Transparency
International Russia,
Yelena Panfilova, “fell
off her chair” when she heard the news, Russia's RBC newspaper
reported.
Others were less enthusiastic about their surprise nominations.
“I am asking the creators of this little game to remove my name and photo from their site,” journalist Elena Rykovtseva wrote on her Facebook page. “I'm ready to follow this project from the sidelines, but no more!”
Other candidates, such as activist Alexei Navalny, are legally unable to hold office within Russia due to past criminal convictions.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin had “no interest in the project.”
"We have already read about this project in the media,” said Peskov. “It is a project which is being developed by people who are already irrevocably cut off from Russia, what's going on here, and from the Russian agenda. We do not see anything of interest in this project at all.”
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