A TV presenter will officially become Vladimir Putin’s opponent in Russia’s 2018 presidential race

World News Nilgun Salim
https://stocknewsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/d774eb3fb33982fcfe0a0c27855a5417.jpeg

The rumors launched by the Russian press concerning the future of the national political scene are true: TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak will become Vladimir Putin’s rival in the 2018 presidential race.

The socialite confirmed the information on Wednesday during a live TV show.

Ksenia Sobchak also sent a letter to the daily Vedomosti, in which she explained why she decided to become Vladimir Putin’s opponent in the next year’s election.

Sobchak argues the ban on Aleksei Navalnii’s nomination because of a conviction for embezzlement, a situation the opposition leader has repeatedly cited as politically motivated, should not lead to boycotting the presidential race.

History shows us, the presenter writes, that elections controlled by authoritarian governments “have turned into reasons and tool for an authentic democratic change.”

Ksenia Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, Mayor of St. Petersburg between 1991 and 1996.

A future political confrontation between the current Kremlin leader and Ksenia Sobchak brings into the spotlight an episode from Putin’s biography closely linked to the presenter’s family

Vladimir Putin saw Anatoly Sobchak as one of his mentors

The President of Russia was Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg in the mandate of Anatoly Sobchak, who fled Russia in 1996 after becoming the protagonist of a criminal investigation.

Former mayor of St. Petersburg, Putin’s home town, returned to Russia in 1999 after the Kremlin leader occupied the post of prime minister, but died in March 2000.

In recent months, Russian media have repeatedly written that Vladimir Putin will use Ksenia Sobchak as a front-runner to support the appearance of a democratic electoral process.

“The idea of ​​the Kremlin is very simple,” says Aleksei Navalnii in a YouTube video, published on September 21st.

“They need the caricature of a liberal candidate, especially if they do not want to register (in the presidential election – n.r.)”, the opposition leader underlines.