Putin challenger says majority of Russians want Ukraine war to end

Presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin tells Al Jazeera decision to block him from contesting elections was ‘political’.

Russian antiwar presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin said a “majority” of people in Russia want the conflict with Ukraine to end and promised to challenge the electoral body’s decision barring him from running in the March elections against incumbent Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Friday, Nadezhdin said the Central Election Commission (CEC) ruling was a “political decision”, which his lawyers were preparing to challenge in the Supreme Court.

“I don’t know who exactly decided [that] about me, but I know exactly the reason … because my election rating, the number of people who are ready to vote for me grows 5 percent a week,” he said.

Nadezhdin has criticised Putin, who he has said made a “fatal mistake” by launching the invasion, and has pledged to end it via negotiation.

“[The] official understanding is that all the society is for Putin, for [the] special military operation as we call it, but it’s not so,” he said. “Majority of people in Russia want the conflict in Ukraine to stop.”