Who are Vladimir Putin’s challengers?

Although Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s most serious challenger, has been barred, Putin faces seven other candidates – the largest field he has faced since his first presidential election in 2000


0%  Share of opinion poll*
71.4%  Vladimir Putin, 65

6.9% Pavel Grudinin, 57 Millionaire director of strawberry farm is Communist Party (CPRF) candidate. Nomination seen as attempt to broaden party’s appeal beyond ageing voters

5.7% Vladimir Zhirinovsky, 71 Veteran firebrand ultranationalist, leader of Liberal Democratic party (LDPR). Fiery populist rhetoric appeals to nationalist voters but he remains loyal to Kremlin


1.3% Ksenia Sobchak, 36 TV celebrity who took part in 2012 anti-Putin protests. Her candidacy is seen by some as smart Kremlin manoeuvre to undermine support for Navalny – allegation she strongly denies


0.7% Grigory Yavlinsky, 65 Head of Yabloko party helped liberalise Soviet economy under Mikhail Gorbachev. Yavlinsky wants greater political freedoms and more liberal economic course

0.4% Boris Titov, 57 Chairman of centre-right Party of Growth and presidential commissioner for rights of entrepreneurs. Wants to create more favourable business environment

– Sergei Baburin, 59 Former Duma deputy, now nationalist candidate of Russian All- People’s Union. Supports Putin’s foreign policy but criticises corruption and injustice at home

– Maxim Suraikin, 39 Chairman of splinter group Communists of Russia, which broke away from CPRF in 2012. It wants to dismantle capitalist system and bring back USSR

*VCIOM poll of 3,000 voters conducted Feb 4, margin of error ± 1.8
Sources: Associated Press, BBC, Financial Times, wciom.ru

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