The chairman of the Russian People's Union party, Sergei Baburin, and Irina Sviridova, nominated by the Democratic Party of Russia (DPR), on Tuesday, January 30, refused to further participate in the election race for the post of President of the Russian Federation.

Baburin submitted signatures to the Central Election Commission to register as a presidential candidate, but then announced his refusal to participate in the elections. The politician said that after his own verification of documents ready for submission to the CEC, he had more than 102.6 thousand voter signatures.

According to him, the Russian All-People's Union decided to support the candidacy of Vladimir Putin, since in the conditions of confrontation with the West, “power cannot be split up.”

“There should be no splitting of patriotic forces... In the context of the fierce war of the West against Russia, the blood that Ukrainian Nazis are shedding in many cities and villages of Russia, I am making perhaps the most difficult decision in my life. I am withdrawing my candidacy from the elections for the post of President of Russia,” RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

Sergei Baburin called on everyone to unite around the candidacy of Vladimir Putin. In addition, he outlined several orders: to successfully complete the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, to take thoughtful comprehensive measures to restore the social and political unity of the multinational Russian people, not to stop defending the Russian world, and to continue deep constitutional reform.

In a conversation with RT, the politician noted that he positively assessed the actions of the current head of state.

“I point out that in the 2018 elections, when I announced the Russian elections (which I believe should be done), the main thing who heard me was Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. We redid the Constitution, introduced spiritual and moral values ​​into it, and in 2022 we launched a special military operation to denazify Ukraine. I support the president so much that I decided to support him not behind the scenes, but publicly,” he said.

In turn, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Russia, Alexander Zorin, explained that the candidate from the Democratic Party of Russia was unable to collect the required number of signatures, and the political force decided to support the current president in the upcoming elections.

“In order not to divert the resources of the Central Election Commission and other government departments, we will not hand over signatures,” Zorin said in a comment to RIA Novosti. — In the morning, we visited Vladimir Putin’s headquarters and conveyed the voters’ instructions; there were several thousand of them, but we formulated and conveyed more than a hundred. We expressed our support, the Democratic Party of Russia will support candidate Putin in the next elections.”

Political scientist Evgeny Mikhailov, in a conversation with RT, called the decision of Sviridova and Baburin to withdraw from the presidential race absolutely sound and honest.

“Sound politicians make good decisions. Now is a difficult time for the country and we need to support the person who took on this burden, the burden of the struggle for the identity of Russia, for the preservation of Russia,” Mikhailov said.

In turn, Victoria Fedosova, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Forecasts of RUDN, noted that the candidates, from a purely technical point of view, made a sound decision, although not all the people who gave their signatures for Baburin can appreciate his step.

“Politically for the country as a whole, this is a wise decision, which once again draws the attention of individual voters to the need for consolidation in the face of global confrontation,” said RT’s interlocutor.

Meeting of Putin's confidants

Also on January 30, a meeting of Vladimir Putin’s confidants took place in Moscow. Those gathered discussed the orders that they had received recently.

As stated by Maryana Lysenko, co-chair of Putin’s election headquarters, chief physician of Moscow City Clinical Hospital No. 52, the meeting participants collected a huge number of orders from people from all over the country who want to offer something.

“In general, a huge number of caring people have gathered here who are ready to change something, who understand what a difficult stage our Motherland is going through right now,” she said.

The day before, the Central Election Commission of Russia announced the registration of Vladimir Putin as a candidate in the country's presidential elections, which will be held on March 15-17, 2024. It was specified that the candidate submitted 315 thousand signatures in his support to the CEC, of ​​which 60 thousand were selected and verified. 91 signatures (0.15% of the sample) were declared invalid.

In addition, on Monday the Central Election Commission registered the second part of the list of Putin’s proxies, which included 198 people.