The Kremlin is considering pitting a female candidate against President Vladimir Putin in next year’s elections, the Vedomosti newspaper cited presidential administration sources as saying Friday.
Five to seven candidates have reportedly been found suitable for the job, including three members of the State Duma’s fourth-largest party, A Just Russia, several sources close to the Kremlin said.
Another source close to the presidential administration names journalist and socialite Ksenia Sobchak as an “ideal” entrant to run against Putin in the spring of 2018. The source explains that Sobchak exemplifies a “smart, young, interesting modern” Russian woman, but questions whether she will ultimately decide to run, Vedomosti reported.
Sobchak, however, was not enthusiastic. “I don’t know who talks about what in the higher corridors of power, but I’ve been following the political landscape closely for a long time,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday. “I have just one diagnosis: Your politics today, gentlemen, are a dismal pile of crap.”
Irina Petyelyayeva, one of the A Just Russia members named as Putin’s possible sparring partner, expressed more interest and told Vedomosti “there is a social demand for women in politics.”
“This will increase interest in the predictable elections,” she added.