Three politicians who opposed the war and won the elections

The elections in Russian regions have been held for the second time since the war outbreak in Ukraine. After 24 February 2022, most deputies who disagreed with the Kremlin's actions and openly expressed their position were sent to pre-trial detention centers or 'squeezed out' of the country.

It seems that no disloyal candidates were left for the elections in 2023, but that is not entirely true. REM portrays three anti-war politicians elected to local parliaments in September.

Anna Cherepanova, deputy elected to the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod

Anna Cherepanova has studied economics at Novgorod State University. She worked there as lecturer for several years and then went to the Ministry of Transportation of the Russian Federation. From 2012 to 2016, she headed the regional anti-corruption center of Transparency International Russia. Now she is the chairwoman of the public organization "Assembly of Indigenous Novgorodians [people of Novgorod]". Despite the 16-year-long history of the organization, there is little information about it available: according to occasional news reports mentioning the “Meetings”, this organization has filed complaints and lawsuits against initiatives violating the law.

Activism. In 2016, Cherepanova, while heading Transparency International-Russia, released an investigation with the title "Communal Kraken" about corruption in the governmental and communal sphere. Cherepanova has pointed out a corrupt connection between the monopolistic heating company “Novgorodskaya” and the regional administration.

The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service has subsequently confirmed numerous violations of antimonopoly legislation.

Apart from that, Anna Cherepanova organized rallies against the retirement age increase and closing of hospitals, spoke in defense of dismissed doctors and medical workers, voted against raising the salaries of officials, held marches in memory of Boris Nemtsov [opposition politician killed in 2015]. In 2017, Cherepanova ran for governor of the Novgorod region but failed to pass the so-called municipal filter.

Political work. In 2016, Cherepanova joined the Yabloko party and headed the party list in the elections to the Novgorod regional Duma: the party scored 4.83%, thus failing to pass the vote threshold (a party needs to get at least 5% of votes to pass). In 2017, she became the chairwoman of the Yabloko regional branch. In 2018, she was elected a deputy of the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod.

In September 2023, she was re-elected to the City Duma, although she faced certain resistance from the authorities: on the night of 9 September, she and three other candidates for the City Duma were taken to the police station, where the security officials drew up reports on them for disobeying the police officers’ orders.

Anti-war position. On 2 March 2022, Anna Cherepanova published a post on VKontakte [a Russian social network, which is similar to Facebook], where she defined the “special military operation” as madness. Subsequently, the politician regularly published posts about Russian war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, supporting the party's slogan “We are for peace”.

Olga Kolokolova, deputy elected to the City Duma of Krasnokamsk (Perm Region)

Olga Kolokolova has two higher education degrees in journalism and economics. In 1996, Kolokolova co-founded the newspaper “Vecherniy Krasnokamsk” published by the local Yabloko branch. Olga also worked there as an editor. In 2012, the newspaper's editorial office was set on fire: an unidentified person threw a Molotov cocktail through the editorial office window. Kolokolova linked the burning of the editorial office to anti-corruption investigations published in the newspaper.

Activism. Olga Kolokolova has repeatedly participated in rallies “For Fair Elections” and spoke out against amendments to the Constitution in 2020, which allowed Putin to be re-elected after two consecutive terms. Since 2007 she has regularly participated as an expert in the weekly program “Domouprav” on the independent radio “Echo Moskvy” in Perm.

Political work. Kolokolova joined the “Yabloko” party in 1995, and since 2006 she has been chairwoman of the Perm regional branch. She was a deputy of the City Duma of Krasnokamsk, and after that – a deputy of the Zemstvo Assembly of Krasnokamsk district. In September 2023, she became a deputy of the Krasnokamsk City Duma.

Anti-war position. A few days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Olga Kolokolova posted on the social network VKontakte a poem by a Soviet poet Yulia Kim condemning military actions. On 4 March, Kolokolova updated her profile photo, adding a white dove and the slogan "I am for peace!".

Konstantin Kiselyov, deputy elected to the City Duma of Yekaterinburg

Since 1985, Konstantin Kiselyov has worked in the educational sector. In 2010, he joined the committee “Right of Choice” fighting to keep the direct mayoral elections in Yekaterinburg. In 2013, Kiselyov was elected to the City Duma of Yekaterinburg from the “Civic Platform” party, but three years later he was expelled from the party while remaining a deputy of the City Duma. In 2017, Kiselyov tried to run for governor of the Sverdlovsk region from the Russian ecological green party. He received 4.62% of the votes.

In 2018, Konstantin Kiselyov was elected from the Yabloko party to the City Duma of Yekaterinburg. In 2023, he again succeeded in the City Duma elections.

Activism. Konstantin Kiselyov spoke out against the pension reform as well as the elimination of direct mayoral elections, participated in rallies in support of Alexey Navalny, Putin's opponent and political prisoner. Kiselyov openly supported the protests against the St. Catherine’s Orthodox Cathedral built on the square near the Drama Theater. The idea of this church being built caused negative emotions among the citizens; the protests lasted about a week. Also, Kiselyov stood against the construction of a biathlon complex on the supposed “Stalin’s mass execution site”.

Anti-war position. 10 days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Konstantin Kiselyov published a post with his attitude to war describing the rally for peace held in Yekaterinburg.

Kiselyov wrote on VKontakte: “The word “peace” [in Russian “mir”, similar to the name of the Russian state-developed payment system] has long been banned unless it is a payment system. They are afraid to approve a rally for peace in the city center. The place for peace can be found in the distant outskirts only. The idea of peace has moved to the periphery of mass consciousness and of authorities’ minds. Isn't it time to wake up? Not only for the authorities but for all of us?”.

After 24 February, Kiselyov spoke out in favor of peace, describing the negative consequences of military actions.