Putin faces a new challenger in the elections (Photo)
A new presidential candidate in Russia challenges Vladimir Putin

Ekaterina Duntsova, a 40-year-old journalist and mother of three from Rzhev, Tver Region, as well as a former local Duma deputy and volunteer involved in searching for missing people, announced her intention to run for president on November 16.
Following this, Duntsova faced a number of problems, including the blocking of her bank transfers. VTB, one of Russia's largest banks, suspended financial operations on her accounts. This happened immediately after the new presidential candidate in Russia appealed to the public for support.
All accounts were blocked literally within the first three minutes after her appeal.
Also, after Ekaterina Duntsova announced her desire to participate in the 2024 Russian presidential elections, she was summoned to the prosecutor's office for a discussion. During her visit on November 20, Duntsova said that she was questioned about her candidacy and views on the military actions in Ukraine.
At the end of the conversation, she signed a statement confirming that the page on the social network “VKontakte,” which contains information about her intentions to run, indeed belongs to her, and provided general comments on the matter.
Ekaterina Duntsova intends to run as an independent candidate. For this, she needs to form an initiative group consisting of at least 500 people. After that, she will have to collect no less than 300,000 voter signatures from various regions of Russia to officially register her candidacy.
Born in Krasnoyarsk and holding two higher education degrees, in law and television journalism, she has expressed concern about the current direction of the country, which, in her opinion, leads to self-destruction and deteriorating living conditions for citizens.
Duntsova criticizes the current political situation, including restrictions on freedom of speech, the increasing number of political prisoners, and the country's isolation at the international level.
She calls for immediate changes, including ending military actions, democratic reforms, freeing political prisoners, repealing inhumane laws, restoring international relations, reallocating the budget in favor of improving citizens' lives, and returning freedoms taken away, to make the country more attractive and comfortable for living.
Ekaterina Duntsova, discussing the funding of her election campaign, clarified that she is currently supported by private individuals. She announced the launch of a targeted fund to raise money for organizing meetings and preliminary campaign preparations, emphasizing that she will provide reports on the use of funds.
Duntsova explained that while she is not yet an officially registered candidate, they are focusing on preparatory events, including the creation of a structure similar to an electoral headquarters, and expressed gratitude to those who have already contributed.
It is reminded that the next presidential elections are scheduled for March 17, 2024. The date of these elections must be approved by the Federation Council in the period from December 8 to 18. Several candidates have already expressed their desire to compete for the presidency: Igor Strelkov (Girkin), former "Minister of Defense" of the so-called "DNR" and Ekaterina Duntsova, a journalist and mother of three children from Rzhev, as well as Boris Nadezhdin - a deputy of the city council of Dolgoprudny and former deputy of the State Duma.