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<\/p>\nA FORMER TV journalist, mum and anti-war Russian planning to stand against Vladimir Putin in the 2024 election has been dubbed a tool of Western intelligence.<\/p>\n
Brave Ekaterina Duntsova, 40, is expected to beat the tyrant by a landslide on her anti-war platform, although he will likely remain in power anyway.<\/p>\n
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The mum-of-three, who has no Moscow political experience, needs to bag 300,000 signatures by January 31 to formally register her candidacy in the elections.<\/p>\n
Duntsova has been smeared with vicious allegations that she is an \u201cagent of foreign intelligence services\u201d, as she tries to take down Mad Vlad.<\/p>\n
She is a fierce proponent for ending the war in Ukraine, and says that while corruption has become "the norm" under Vlad, it shouldn't be. <\/p>\n
Duntsova is a proponent for peace and democracy – two things Putin's rule have not been summed up by.<\/p>\n
One of Putin's supporters,\u00a0political analyst Sergey Markov, accused her of being an \u201cideal candidate\u201d who was \u201cspecially selected\u2026by political strategists of the US or British intelligence services.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I just don\u2019t know yet, the USA or Britain or both," he said.<\/p>\n And Kremlin-state media outlet RIA Novosti alleged that she had been linked to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia\u2019s richest man and a Putin enemy now exiled in Britain by an election committee member.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the public association with Khodorkovsky is a hint as to why Duntsova might be denied registration,\u201d said exiled journalist Dmitry\u00a0 Kolezev.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But Kolezev still described her as \u201cthe main political discovery of the end of 2023\u201d, and the only option not born from the Kremlin.<\/p>\n He said she fulfilled a strong desire in the country to have a different leader to Putin, who has been ruling Russia with an iron fist for decades.<\/p>\n But Putin is all but certain to win the no-doubt rigged election in 2024, despite his\u00a0painfully slow grind in Ukraine\u00a0that is coming up on two years.<\/p>\n People are dying every day, and I am sure they wanted to live. We all want to live, and we need peace.<\/p>\n Duntsova said of the war: "In February 2022, the current president announced the start of a special military operation.<\/p>\n "And now people are dying every day, and I am sure they wanted to live.<\/p>\n "We all want to live, and we need peace."<\/p>\n Amid the constant repression and even murder of those who speak out against the Russian state like Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov, standing against Putin is no mean feat.<\/p>\n When asked if she was afraid of being imprisoned, she said "Of course, I have no illusions about these 'elections', and, like any normal person, I am afraid.<\/p>\n "But I have hope that Russia can be changed democratically."<\/p>\n She said that under Putin, "corruption is taken for granted, almost as a norm.<\/p>\n "But it is not the norm."<\/p>\n Duntsova also hit back at a reporter who asked if she would be allowed to stand in the sham elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are we talking about permission if this is my right according to the law and I have that possibility and have the necessary qualities to put myself forward?" she replied.<\/p>\n "We are just moving according to the formula prescribed by federal law, and for that we don't need anyone's permission.\u201d<\/p>\n Corruption is not the norm<\/p>\n Duntsova is also backed by her three children, Maria, 19, Sophia, 16, and Sylvester, ten.<\/p>\n The family live in Rzhev, a backwater town in Tver region on the rail line between Moscow and Latvian capital Riga.<\/p>\n The former journalist has degrees in law and television journalism and from 2006 to 2022 she was the editor-in-chief of the local television studio RiT.<\/p>\n Duntsova has a very different view to Vlad when it comes to the separation of Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n She thinks peace means living in harmony despite "religious, cultural and political differences", whereas Putin has consistently tried to absorb Ukraine into the Russian country and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cLiving in peace means respecting and loving each other, regardless of our religious, cultural and political differences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to re-learn how to talk and work together to solve the problems of our country."<\/p>\n Speaking of the blight faced by Russian civilians, many of whom have began to more fiercely criticise Putin's campaign in Ukraine, she said:<\/p>\n "[We have] poverty, when pensioners barely have enough to pay for utilities, food and medicine.<\/p>\n "Will the borders be closed?\u00a0How many more waves of mobilisation will there be?<\/p>\n "Will we live better, richer lives?\u00a0What is the future of our country\u2026.?<\/p>\n "I am running for president of Russia so that we all have a future and that we all together find it."<\/p>\n Her fresh approach and brave stand against the Russian state is likely a welcome breath of fresh air for many of the civilians living there now.<\/p>\n Just last week, the president faced a\u00a0fresh embarrassment when he hosted his first TV call-in show\u00a0since his failing war began.<\/p>\n The closely-regulated "Direct Line with\u00a0Vladimir Putin" saw civilians and journalists ask him questions live on air.<\/p>\n Despite trying to talk his way out of some of the trickier lines of questioning, including some on\u00a0falsely imprisoned Evan Gershkovich, Putin couldn't avoid this humiliation.<\/p>\n Messages from angry citizens popped up on a huge screen in front of him, asking: ''Why is your 'reality' at odds with our lived reality?" and telling him to "quit".<\/p>\n One even said: "Don't run for another term as Russian president – make way for the young!"<\/p>\n But the dictator will no doubt win again in the so-called elections scheduled for March next year.<\/p>\n He has twice changed Russia's constitution to extend his time in power, and could well sit at the head of the table until his mid-80s.<\/p>\n Since former president Boris Yeltsin handed him the keys in 1999, Putin has served as president for longer than any other Russian ruler with the exception of\u00a0Josef Stalin.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/newspress-collage-wizd0xyan-1702998075829.jpg\")
<\/picture>PUTIN'S WRATH <\/span><\/p>\nPutin 'losing 1,000 soldiers a day' in suicidal 'meat assaults' on SIX fronts<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/russias-president-vladimir-putin-attends-864916933.jpg\")
<\/picture>CLINGING TO POWER <\/span><\/p>\nPutin WILL run for election\u2026staying in Kremlin until he dies or is ousted<\/h3>\n
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