Russian anti-war opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin has been arrested by police.

An anti-war politician who tried to challenge Vladimir Putin in the last Russian presidential election has been arrested, according to his social media account.

Boris Nadezhdin was taken to a police station in a town west of Moscow on Monday morning, weeks after he announced his candidacy in September’s Duma (parliament) elections.

“They took him from his house. The reason for his arrest is unknown,” his press secretary told BBC Russian.

Last week, Nadezhdin was named a “foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice and accused of spreading false information about the Russian government and calling people to participate in unauthorized demonstrations.

The label would have barred him from running in the September election.

“What can I say? I’m going to live and fight,” he commented.

“This will not change anything in my political biography. I will continue to run for the State Duma and collect signatures.”

In the year In early 2024, Nadezhdin tried to run as a presidential candidate on an anti-war manifesto, calling for an end to the war in Ukraine.

He told the BBC at the time that he was supported by “tens of millions of people” who did not want “Russia to be on this path of dictatorship and militarism”.

If elected president, he said his first task would be to “end the conflict with Ukraine and then restore normal relations between Russia and the Western community.”

However, his criticism of Putin has remained unremarkable, leading some to speculate that the Kremlin is vying to give the election the illusion of fairness.

Nadezhda was denied standing by the Russian Electoral Commission weeks before the vote because the signature she submitted with her candidacy application was more than 15% defective.

He contested this but ultimately failed to contest, as did other loyalists.

March 18, 2024 Putin He said he won by a landslide. He has been in office for the fifth time.

The next presidential election In 2030, Putin will be 78 years old. A constitutional amendment passed in 2020 resets their terms and allows them to remain in power until 2036.

Earlier this year, as the Kremlin began restricting internet access for millions across the country and Russia’s economic crisis worsened, Nadezhda He told the BBC. People are “beginning to understand that there is a direct connection between their everyday problems like health care, food prices, internet problems and Vladimir Putin’s politics.”

Now the Kremlin controls the entire Russian political landscape, and no one seems to be allowed to challenge Putin’s rule.

Dissidents who could offer an alternative to Russian voters are in jail, exile or dead.