2018 Election: Daughter of former Russian mayor runs for president

Russian socialite turned journalist Ksenia Sobchak, whose father served as mayor of the country’s second-largest city of St Petersburg in the 1990s, said on Wednesday that she was running for president in 2018 election.

Her deceased father, Anatoly Sobchak, was a reputed mentor of Russia’s present President, Vladimir Putin, and former President Dmitry Medvedev.

In a video posted on her campaign website, Sobchak said she was “against everyone’’ in Russia’s present leadership and said the country was in dire need of a change.

She said that Russians born when Putin became president for the first time in 2000 would be able to vote in this election.

She expressed support for Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny, who also wants to challenge Putin for the presidency but will most likely be kept off the ballot because of legal troubles.

Putin has not yet announced that he is re-contesting, but the long-time leader is seen as almost certain to win if he does declare his candidacy.

(Reuters/NAN)