Who is running in the Russian presidential election Factbox by TASS

The Russian presidential election will be held on March 17, 2024. The voting will take place in three days, kicking off today, March 15.

Four candidates will vie for the top office, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov. TASS-DOSSIER editorial staff have put together information about the presidential candidates and their election platforms.

Vladislav Davankov, Duma vice-speaker (New People party)

Vladislav Andreyevich Davankov was born on February 25, 1984 in Smolensk, Russia. He graduated from the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University (2006) and the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (2023). He has a Ph.D in Sociological Sciences (2008). In 2020 he joined the New People party, founded in the same year by Alexey Nechayev. He is a member of the party's central council. Since 2021, he has been a member of the State Duma, first deputy head of the New People faction, and deputy chairman of the lower house. On December 24, 2023, a party congress nominated Davankov to run in the 2024 presidential election. On January 5, 2024, the Central Election Commission registered him as a presidential candidate.

Davankov’s election platform embraces a major economic amnesty, revision of the credit policy in favor of entrepreneurs, and a moratorium on tax increases. The politician considers it necessary to bring back direct mayoral elections, to create a mechanism for recalling legislators, mayors and governors through the portal of public services, to replace some of the management and supervisory positions with artificial intelligence. Regarding foreign policy, Davankov favors a policy of "maximum pragmatism," to achieve peace and hold negotiations with Ukraine on Russian terms. The candidate also advocates unblocking banned social networks, abandoning "ideological censorship," introducing responsibility for whistleblowing, reducing the army of migrant workers by introducing new technologies and developing robotics, as well as deporting illegal immigrants, easing the repatriation of Russians and other indigenous peoples of Russia, etc.

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (self-nominated candidate)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on October 7, 1952. In 1975, Putin graduated from the Department of Law (International Law Branch) at Leningrad State University. In 1985, he graduated from the Andropov Institute of the KGB of the USSR (currently the Academy of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service SVR). Academic degree - Ph.D. in Economics. Upon graduation from the university, Putin was assigned to a position in the KGB in the former USSR. His first job was in the secretariat and then in the counterintelligence unit of the KGB Office for Leningrad and the Leningrad Region. In 1985, he was given an assignment at the KGB office in the German Democratic Republic and worked in Dresden until 1990. In 1991-1996, he led the foreign relations committee at St. Petersburg’s Mayoral Office, and from 1992 he simultaneously worked as deputy mayor.

From 1996 he worked as deputy chief of the President’s Administrative Directorate (Property Management Directorate). In 1997-1998, Putin worked as deputy head of the Presidential Administration. In 1998-1999, Putin was director of the Federal Security Service (FSB). In August 1999, he became Prime Minister of Russia. In December 1999 then-President Boris Yeltsin declared his resignation thus placing presidential duties in Putin’s hands. In 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2018, Putin was elected as Russian President, winning the biggest votes in 2018 (76,69%). From 2008 to 2012, Putin was Prime Minister.

On December 8, 2023, while speaking in the Kremlin with participants at a ceremony marking the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland, Vladimir Putin announced that he would run in the 2024 presidential election. A meeting of an electoral group on December 16, 2023 unanimously supported his self-nomination. On January 29, 2024, the Central Election Commission registered Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate.

The incumbent president has not published an official election platform. Vladimir Putin outlined his view of the country's development for the next six years in his address to the Federal Assembly on February 29, 2024. Most of its provisions were focused on raising living standards for the population. The president announced five new national projects (Family, Long and Active Life, Youth of Russia, Personnel, Data Economy), tax reforms and a new system of wages for public sector employees, as well as a new program for resettlement from dilapidated houses. Plans were announced to extend the programs for preferential family mortgages, maternity capital, to give new preferential mortgages to residents of small towns and veterans of the special military operation. Putin also gave a start to the Time of Heroes program for the participants in the special operation.

Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the LDPR, Head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs (LDPR)

Leonid Slutsky was born on January 4, 1968 in Moscow, he is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics (1996). Doctor of Economics (2001). He has been an MP since 1999. In 2011-2016 he led the State Duma Committee of CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots. In 2016, he became chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs. Since May 2022, he has been the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), heading the Duma faction. He took over the party after the death of its first leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. On December 19, 2023 he was nominated as a presidential candidate at an LDPR congress. On January 5, 2024, the Central Election Commission registered Leonid Slutsky as a candidate for the presidential election.

As part of his election platform, Slutsky proposes ending the special military operation by organizing a large-scale offensive by the Russian army, as well as to confiscate the property of relocated Russians in favor of the state. If elected, the LDPR leader plans to revise the tax system so that more money flows top-down to smaller regions, to introduce a progressive taxation scale, exempting citizens earning less than 30,000 rubles ($327) per month from being taxed. Other items on his program include creating conditions for the development of science, supporting small businesses, encouraging low-rise housing, repaying the state's debts on Soviet deposits, controlling food prices, etc.

Nikolay Kharitonov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of the Far East and the Arctic (CPRF)

Nikolay Mikhailovich Kharitonov was born on October 30, 1948 in the settlement of Rezino, Novosibirsk Region. He is a graduate of the Novosibirsk Agricultural Institute (1972) and the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation (1995). Candidate of Economic Sciences (1999). He was a member of the Agrarian Party of Russia (1993-2007), acting as its deputy chair. Member of the CPRF party (since 2008), member of the Presidium of the CPRF Central Committee. MP since 1993. Since 2003 he has been a member of the CPRF faction. On March 14, 2004, he vied for the presidency running on the CPRF ticket, coming in second with 13.69% of the vote. In 2011-2021, Kharitonov led the State Duma Committee on Regional Policies, since 2021 he has headed the Committee on the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. On December 23, 2023, the CPRF congress nominated Nikolai Kharitonov to run in the Russian presidential election. On January 9, 2024, he was registered by the Central Election Commission as a candidate.

His election campaign focuses on abolishing pension reform and reducing the retirement age, as well as abolishing the Bologna system in education. The CPRF candidate proposes to return strategic sectors of the economy and backbone banks to state ownership, ban the privatization of state and municipal enterprises, and nationalize foreign assets. Kharitonov plans to pass a law on recalling governors and deputies of all levels in case of their inaction, as well as to introduce a progressive personal income tax and exempt low-income citizens from paying it.