The Russian nationalist challenges Putin from prison: I will run for president

Russian pro-war nationalist Igor Girkin, who is in custody awaiting trial for inciting extremism, announced today that he wanted to run for president against incumbent Vladimir Putin. Putin himself has not yet officially announced his candidacy, but Girkin believes the March election will be a sham with the winner already known.

Girkin, who also goes by the pseudonym Igor Strelkov, has repeatedly said that Russia will face revolution, even civil war, if Vladimir Putin's military leadership does not fight the war in Ukraine more effectively, writes The Guardian. 

Girkin, a former Federal Security Service officer who helped Russia annex Crimea in 2014 and then organize pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine, said before his arrest that he and his supporters were entering politics.

"I understand very well that in the current situation in Russia, participating in the presidential campaign is like sitting at a table to play with sharp cards,"  Girkin said in a letter published by his Telegram account. He stated that he did not think he would be allowed to participate in the election, but hoped that his attempt to unite patriotic forces would disrupt the Kremlin's plan for a sham election in which the only winner is known in advance.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview that he hoped Putin would run in the March election for another term as president, a move that would keep Putin in power until at least 2030.