Ex-Economy Minister Yasin Takes Questions

Yevgeny Yasin, an economist and Yeltsin-era economy minister, will talk to our Russian Service and take questions (in Russian) later today. Details HERE or check the Radio Svoboda Facebook page.

'It Was Minus-16, So Not Too Cold'

Russian passengers are blaming Putin's Krasnoyarsk visit for keeping them in a cold plane on the frozen tarmac in -16C weather for "two hours," says our Russian Service. Passengers say the doors were left open but the shades were lowered.

Novaya Gazeta suggests that Putin, who's visiting Krasnoyarsk today for what looks a lot like a campaign visit, is more concerned with preparations for the Winter Universiade sports competition scheduled to take place there next year.

Political analyst Aleksandr Kynev asks: "Who will reach the second round against Sobchak: Suraikin or Baburin?"

Novaya Gazeta Asks Experts Why Navalny Is Questioning Candidate Signatures

Novaya Gazeta, a beacon in Russia's bleak media landscape, asks experts to explain why Aleksei Navalny is questioning the authenticity of the signatures collected by candidates in Russia's upcoming election, including the perennial candidate and liberal Grigory Yavlinsky. Dmitry Oreshkin questions Navalny attacking some of those who would seem allies in Russia's liberal camp.

Blogger describes how Yavlinsky collected signatures

Interesting read. Navalny has said he doesn't believe Yavlinsky has enough party infrastructure to collect 105,000 signatures and probably only got about 60 percent of that figure.

But Aleksei Sadomovsky is a Yavlinsky activist in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, and he details how they collected the signatures. Using their established database, he says, they assembled 3,027 signature collectors across the country, meaning that each one had to collect 35 signatures. Gives details on how they checked the signatures. Says they submitted signatures from 81 regions, an average of 1,297 per region.

"Organizing the collection of signatures on the basis of experienced working branches in the regions with their own teams and supporters is much easier than starting from zero."

Analyst Grigory Golosov On Zhirinovsky And Why He Runs

He doesn't try or expect to win, Golosov says on polit.ru:

"Zhirinovsky participates in presidential elections in order to strengthen his perception in the public mind for the next time his party is in the Duma elections. He is a Duma politician and hasn't been serious about the presidency for a very long time, if he ever was."

"Moreover, it must be understood that the LDPR is a business enterprise controlled by Zhirinovsky, and refusing to participate in presidential elections would weaken his control over the party. At least, it would mean that other party members would start thinking there could be another candidate. Once Zhirinovsky experimented along these lines with [Oleg] Malyshkin, if you recall. But that was because of extraordinary circumstances and everyone understood that Malyshkin was not a serious candidate. Now there are no extraordinary circumstances so Zhirinovsky is participating in this election himself."

"Zhirinovsky is an ideal candidate for authoritarian elections. Ideal in the sense that he will get some votes, but they will definitely not be very many. Essentially, all the candidates in this election fit into this category, but Zhirinovsky is ideal. He won't fall below a certain minimum, but he also has a 'ceiling.'"

Russia's Election Commission Registers Three More Presidential Candidates

By RFE/RL

Russia's Central Election Commission has registered three more candidates for the March 18 presidential election, raising the total number of candidates to six.

The commission on February 7 formally registered the candidacies of Boris Titov from the Party of Growth, Sergei Baburin of the Russian All-People Union Party, and Grigory Yavlinsky of the Yabloko party.

On February 6, the candidacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin was formally registered -- exactly two months after he announced his intention to seek a fourth term.

Kremlin critics say most of the other candidates are window-dressing in a vote Putin is certain to win in Russia's tightly controlled political environment.

Also officially registered are Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and Communist Party nominee Pavel Grudinin.

Others who have expressed intentions to run include TV personality Ksenia Sobchak and the leader of the Communists of Russia Party, Maksim Suraikin.

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Kyiv Expects Rebuke For Moscow Over Crimea Voting

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says he wants a tough reaction from the West -- the United States in particular -- to Russian voting in annexed Crimea in the Russian election.

Yatsenyuk, who became prime minister after the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych amid mass street protests in February 2014, made the comments on February 6 in Washington, where he met with U.S. officials, including Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.

Russia has been hit by U.S. and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and backing of separatists in a bloody war in eastern Ukraine. In March 2014, a resolution urging the international community "not to recognize any alteration of the status" of Crimea passed by a vote of 100-11 with 58 abstentions.

This is Russia's first presidential election since then.

Yatsenyuk left the government in an April 2016 shake-up and was succeeded by current Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman.

Titov, Baburin Become Fifth And Sixth Registered Candidates

The Central Election Commission certified the candidacies today of Russian Business Ombudsman and Chairman of the Party of Growth Boris Titov, as well as Russian All-People's Union leader Sergei Baburin.