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Sobchak Launches Campaign For Kremlin With Call To Release 'Political Prisoners'
I still consider the candidacy of Ksenia a Kremlin ruse to dilute Putin opposition votes. Putin is godfather to Ksenia Sobchak and was politically mentored by her father in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg where Anatoly Sobchak was mayor.
Related: Ksenia Sobchak, Putin's Presidential Rival, Says Russia’s Crimea Annexation Violated International Law
October 24, 2017
Tom Balmforth
Ksenia Sobchak
MOSCOW -- Socialite and opposition-minded journalist Ksenia Sobchak has called on the authorities to release all political prisoners as she gave her first press conference since announcing she will run in the presidential election set for March. In front of a theater hall packed with journalists, Sobchak said on October 24 that the presidential campaign she announced last week under the slogan "I am against all" would give a voice to an eclectic mix of Russians unhappy with the country's direction under President Vladimir Putin's 18-year rule. "I am not making a claim to the role of professional politician," she said. "I believe that it is important that the voice of my generation is heard at these elections." If registered for the election, Sobchak, 35, is likely to compete against Putin who is yet to announce his candidacy, but who is widely expected to do so -- and to win handily. Elections in Russia are tightly controlled, and the most prominent opposition leader, Aleksei Navalny, is barred from running.
Fielding questions on a range of issues, Sobchak set herself apart from the mainstream Kremlin narrative by calling Ukraine "Russia’s most important partner" and saying that restoring relations with Kyiv is "the most important task that lies before Russia." Russia in March 2014 annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea region of Crimea, and has been backing separatists in eastern Ukraine who are fighting Ukrainian security forces in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people since its start in April 2014. The annexation of Crimea prompted a surge in popularity for Putin in Russia, and the date of the presidential election was moved to March 18, the official anniversary of the annexation. Sobchak told journalists that "from the point of view of international law, Crimea is Ukrainian -- full stop," adding that Russia had "broken its word" by violating the 1994 Budapest Memorandum guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity.
I still consider the candidacy of Ksenia a Kremlin ruse to dilute Putin opposition votes. Putin is godfather to Ksenia Sobchak and was politically mentored by her father in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg where Anatoly Sobchak was mayor.
Related: Ksenia Sobchak, Putin's Presidential Rival, Says Russia’s Crimea Annexation Violated International Law
