Former TV journalist Kateryna Duntseva has been barred from running for President Vladimir Putin in next March’s election due to “errors” in her election registration application, her campaign channel Telegram has announced, Reuters reported.

This measure was taken only three days after 40-year-old Duntseva submitted an application to the election commission to register her candidacy.

She planned to campaign for the end of the war in Ukraine and the release of political prisoners.

A video published by a Russian news channel shows a meeting of the Central Committee, at which its members voted unanimously to prevent Duntseva from being nominated.

Kateryna Duntova, an independent Russian politician committed to “peace,” on Wednesday submitted her candidacy for the March 2024 presidential election, which Vladimir Putin will undoubtedly win again.

Duntseva was summoned to the prosecutor’s office after she announced her intention to participate in the elections. She said on social networks that Russia “is moving away from rights and freedoms, from love and peace, from a beautiful future.”

Duntseva corrected a Reuters reporter who asked her if she thought the authorities would allow her to run.

“Why are we talking about permission when it is my right under the law and I have the opportunity and I have the necessary qualifications to come forward?” she answered.

“We’re just working according to the formula provided by federal law, and we don’t need anyone’s permission to do it.”

The immediate end of Duntova’s campaign will be seen by Putin’s critics as evidence that no one with genuine opposition views will be allowed to run against Putin in the first presidential election since he launched the war in Ukraine.

They see it as a mock trial with only one possible outcome.

The Kremlin says Putin will win because he enjoys real public support, with a rating of around 80% in polls.

Putin, 71, has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999 and is seeking another six-year term. With Alexei Navalny serving more than 30 years in prison and other prominent Kremlin critics either behind bars or out of the country due to the risk of arrest, there is no credible opposition figure to pose a problem for Putin.