Yekaterina Duntsova, an anti-war advocate who was once a popular television newscaster, has announced her candidacy to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next election, Reuters reports after saying in an interview last month, “Any sane person taking this step would be afraid, but fear must not win.”
Duntsova now must get 300,000 signatures on petitions by January 30th to appear on the ballot in the election scheduled for March 15th-17th. Because he’s affiliated with a major political party, Putin only has to order 100,000 Russians to sign their names. Duntsova steps up as Putin’s former major opposition figure as his last challenger, Alexey Navalny, appears to be missing after failing to show for a court date.