AP Interview: Russia must be more tolerant, candidate says
MOSCOW — A celebrity Russian TV host who intends to run for president in next March’s election said Friday that she hopes to make the nations’ tightly-controlled political system more inclusive and democratic.
The 36-year-old Ksenia Sobchak has cast herself as a “candidate against all” in the March 18 vote. She’s seeking to reach out to those who have grown tired of President Vladimir Putin’s domination of the political scene and a familiar cast of token contenders who challenged him in past elections.
“I’m joining the campaign in order to reach out to millions of people in our country and to show what democracy in action means, to show that the state could be shaped differently,” Sobchak told The Associated Press. “I want to say: ‘Friends … I want you to vote against this system that suppresses people, cheats us and always places the state above an individual.’”
Putin hasn’t said whether he would seek re-election, but he’s widely expected to run.