A journalist competes with Putin for the presidency under the slogan “Toughness versus Gentleness”
Despite her lack of political experience, this unknown journalist and mother of three children hopes to run in the presidential elections against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In her interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, Ekaterina Dontsova, a 40-year-old independent presidential candidate, stated that her program for achieving peace with Ukraine, releasing government critics from prison, and making Russia a “humanitarian state that takes into account the concerns of its citizens” might lead her to the Kremlin.
The presidential candidate, in the upcoming elections scheduled for March, opposes the military operation launched by the Kremlin in Ukraine, the continued concentration of power for decades, and the approach to dealing with the opposition.
Dontsova has conducted interviews with various activists and party members about the upcoming elections, stating, “At some point, the idea arose that it would be interesting for a woman to run against Putin because that would be something different, toughness versus gentleness.”
As a journalist turned activist and deputy in the local parliament with a law degree, Dontsova carefully chooses her words to avoid violating Russian laws regarding the war that has been ongoing for about two years in Ukraine.
However, Dontsova affirmed her desire to end the fighting in Ukraine, urging Moscow and Kiev to sit at the negotiating table, saying, “We want peace.”
Dontsova refused to discuss the form that a potential peace agreement might take, but she pointed out the repeated refusal of Ukrainian authorities to negotiate while Putin is in power.
She added that “it means they are willing to negotiate with someone else.”
She mentioned that, if elected, her first presidential decree would call for the release of “political prisoners” in Russia, without specifying names.
Dontsova began her professional career in Rzhev, a historical city with a population of about 60,000, located 230 kilometers west of Moscow. She emphasized that her work at a local television station instilled in her a passion for addressing people’s concerns, gradually leading her toward civic engagement.
She said, “I thought: I can’t just observe what’s happening; I need to participate myself.”
