San Francisco Frontiers - Putin leading Russia to 'chaos', anti-war politician says

In the end, authorities made the decision for him, banning him from leaving a day before he was due in court.

Nadezhdin, 61, hoped to stand as an independent in September's parliamentary elections on a platform of ending Moscow's over four-year war with Ukraine -- accompanied in Russia with huge censorship and repression.

But he was arrested on Monday and now faces protracted legal proceedings that could land him in prison.

He rose to fame in 2024, when he attempted to run against President Vladimir Putin in presidential elections, and more than two years later does not mince words about the Russian leader.

"We must tell people the truth, we must tell them that the course Putin is steering the country on is a path towards chaos -- and perhaps, God forbid, even toward disaster," he told AFP outside his home in the town of Dolgoprudny.

He spoke two days before he was due in court on extremism charges -- slapped on him after he was detained, on top of a "foreign agent" label authorities imposed on him.

In many ways, Nadezhdin -- whose name is a variation of the word "hope" in Russian -- is surprised at how long he's managed to stay free in Russia.

In 2024, he encouraged scores of Russians to collect signatures in support of his candidacy against Putin -- who does not tolerate opposition.

"Honestly, for two years, I was waiting for them to make me a foreign agent or force me to leave, but it never happened," he told AFP.

Two years on, Moscow is still at war, with hundreds of thousands killed and the Kremlin keen to avoid any blips in September's tightly-controlled parliamentary polls.

Nadezhdin believes he was meant to be imprisoned when he was arrested by armed police on Monday but that someone at the top "changed their minds."

On Friday, he is due in court on extremism charges that carry a maximum of 15 days in jail.

Like many Kremlin critics, he risks getting caught in prison "carousel" -- whereby authorities continuously arrest defendants to keep them in custody on short-term sentence.

And a conviction would be banned from running for office.

- 'Nonsense' -

After Monday's brief detention, his "shaken" family called on him to leave.

But Nadezhdin -- who held various government positions in the 1990s but says he broke ranks with the Kremlin in 2020 -- says he has lived in Dolgoprudny his whole life.

"At my age, it is hard to change things," he said, adding that "everything depends on the court decision" Friday.

His window for exile appeared to close on Thursday, a day after AFP spoke to him, when Nadezhdin announced he received an official letter that said he was banned from leaving Russia.

Authorities have charged him with "demonstrating extremist symbols" for a 2023 video he shared that briefly showed a picture of late Putin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in 2024.

Nadezhdin said the charge was "nonsense", saying it came after authorities got nervous of his "popularity" and the prospect of an anti-war MP in the Duma.

"Right now, every single deputy is for Putin, for the war and so on. And there was going to be someone different. I think that was the reason."

Nadezhdin has called on people not to vote for Putin's United Russia party.

- 'Peaceful change of power' -

His election leaflets this year featured the words "for peace".

Volunteers managed to hand them out for several weeks and even open a campaign headquarters, before he was arrested.

With intensifying Ukrainian strikes on Russia that have triggered fuel shortages, Nadezhdin has said on social media that "everyone can see the consequences of the war".

But he has steered clear of saying how the war should end and has never said Moscow should hand back territories that is seized.

The September vote is set to take place more than four and a half years into Moscow's campaign and as Putin's popularity ratings have taken a hit.

Elections under Putin's rule have always been a tightly controlled process -- with the war only toughening that.

But Nadezhdin still believes real change could come about through voting, despite the huge restrictions.

"I always act strictly within the law -- until the end," he said.

"These efforts must be aimed at bringing about a peaceful change of power in Russia."

K.Gray--SFF