Yekaterina Duntsova, a journalist from the Tver region has announced her bid for the presidency last week.
President Vladimir Putin is yet to formally announce his plans to run for re-election next year.
According to The Moscow Times, the 40-year-old single mother of three with no prior experience in Russia’s federal-level politics or party affiliation, Duntsova appears to be an unlikely candidate for the post that has been controlled by Putin — now 71 — for over two decades.
But the journalist believes her age, gender and lack of experience in Moscow politics might become some of her greatest assets in a race that is likely to be dominated by older men who have spent decades working in the Kremlin’s shadow.
Born in Siberia, Duntsova built her journalism career in the historic town of Rzhev located some 230 kilometers west of Moscow.
Her manifesto said that she had decided to put her name forward because: “I love our country, I want Russia to be a democratic, prosperous and peaceful state, the Kyiv Post said.
“And now our country is moving in a completely different direction: away from rights and freedoms, away from love and peace, away from a wonderful future.”
The Moscow Times added that Russia’s liberal opposition, which is almost entirely in exile, is yet to come up with a single strategy for the country’s first wartime presidential election. While some believe a single candidate should represent the fractured movement, others argue for boycotting the vote altogether.
Duntsova — a seeming outsider to the mainstream anti-Putin movement — does not support either of these camps, instead hoping that more independent candidates will join the race and rally their supporters to come out to vote.
This stance has already fueled speculation that she could be a Kremlin-endorsed spoiler candidate, the report noted.
However, The Moscow Times quoted her as saying, “I am definitely not a spoiler. This was my decision and it will be executed up to the point of my abilities.”