She will stand up to Putin: Who is Yekaterina Duntsova?

She will stand up to Putin: Who is Yekaterina Duntsova?

Vladimir Putin has almost casually announced that he will run for the presidency of Russia again in mid-2024. After a ceremony honoring soldiers in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin announced in mid-December what everyone expected: that he would run for the fifth time in the presidential elections in Russia.

In contrast, a few weeks earlier, a complete surprise happened: a TV journalist from Rzhev, a city of 60,000 inhabitants about 200 kilometers west of Moscow, announced that she would run against the eternal ruler of the Kremlin, writes Deutsche Welle.

Yekaterina Duntsova is 40 years old, a single mother of three children and says: "Today the situation in Russia is like this: those who could represent citizens with democratic views in the upcoming elections are either in prison or their rights are limited, prosecuted or forced to go to exile."

"Why shouldn't a woman be president, as a symbol of tenderness, kindness and feelings," asked Duntsova in an interview for DV.

Long way to candidacy

Vladimir Putin is nominated by his ruling United Russia party. Duntsova does not have her own party.

In order to be officially registered as a candidate, she must collect 300,000 signatures by January 31, 2024, which is not an easy task for a woman who has so far only been active as a politician at the regional level. As soon as Duntsova announced her plan, she was asked what her stance was on the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Duntsova stands for peace, but does not call the war in Ukraine a war. She carefully weighs every statement she makes so as not to violate the law on "discrediting the Russian military," which could result in a long prison sentence.

Duntsova has so far had no consequences, leading critics to conclude that she could be a fake opponent of Putin, who was installed with his approval to give the presidential campaign the appearance of a real competition.

"Good reputation of an engaged person"

But Abbas Gallyamov sees no reason to doubt that Duntsova is acting honestly.

Gallyamov wrote speeches to Vladimir Putin until 2010, but he turned his back on him and today lives as a political analyst in exile.

"She has a good reputation as an engaged person with the right ideas. As a person who fights for her ideals, not as a person who leads opportunistic politics," Gallyamov told Deutsche Welle.

Yekaterina Duntsova has already faced several obstacles. Just minutes after she requested financial support for her election campaign through social media, the bank blocked payments to her account. She posted this on her Telegram profile.

Not only 700 of her supporters, but also the local police came to a pre-election rally on December 17. And suddenly the power went out, she announced on Telegram.

"We immediately organized the electricity supply with the help of a generator." And then the presenter took the microphone from her and asked that "no political questions be asked".

"There will probably still be small problems that we will successfully solve together," Duntsova announced combatively at the time.

Decision in the Kremlin: To allow candidacy or not?

Combative or not - even if Yekaterina Duntsova is a real candidate, the Kremlin has ways to use her for its own purposes or simply prevent her from running.

Abbas Gallyamov believes that there are two possible scenarios. The first is for the Kremlin to allow Duntsova to collect the necessary signatures and officially run for office. Then it could be used to further legitimize Putin's victory, and above all the war in Ukraine. And when Putin supposedly "fairly" defeats an opponent who is against the war, then he could use it for Russian propaganda. Another possibility is that the Kremlin will not allow Duntsova's candidacy at all. "There is a big risk that she will get too much support and too many votes, especially if the situation on the front worsens during the election campaign, which cannot be ruled out," Gallyamov said.

"Then many would vote for her, as a sign of protest. Maybe she would achieve a convincing victory," says the analyst, and that is why he thinks it is unlikely that the Kremlin will risk something like that.

Aware of the risks

Duntsova is aware that challenging Putin can be dangerous. And she knows that his harshest critics, Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin or Vladimir Kara-Murza, have been sentenced to long prison sentences.

But she still wants to run. "The prospects may not be very good, because we have all seen what happens to people who publish their views in one way or another - they are accused of being foreign agents or prosecuted. But I would like to believe in the best outcome," Duntsova said for Deutsche Welle.

On her profile on Telegram, she added: "Because I love our country, because I would like Russia to be a democratic, peaceful and welfare state. Because right now our country is going in the complete opposite direction: it is moving away from rights and freedoms, from love and peace, moving away from a beautiful future".