She said by this point she had decided to run for president and informed Putin, who “did not look happy”. The Russian president has spoken on many occasions about his political debt to Sobchak, who died in 2000. Putin has yet to declare his candidacy officially but is widely expected to stand and win another six-year term. In order for Sobchak to get on to the ballot, she will need to collect 300,000 signatures from Russian citizens. Shortly before she announced her candidacy, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said she “fulfilled all criteria” to stand, in what appeared to be Kremlin blessing for the move.

Source: The Guardian October 18, 2017 17:50 UTC