The Russian Communist Party has nominated Mykola Kharitonov, a veteran of political life who ran in 2004, as a candidate for the presidential elections next March, but this fact does not bother Vladimir Putin, reports AFP.

Elections in RussiaPhoto: Taisia ​​Vorontsova / Sputnik / Profimedia

“The candidacy of (Mykola) Kharitonov was supported by the vast majority of the participants of the congress” organized in the suburbs of Moscow during a secret vote, stated the secretary of the Central Committee Oleksandr Yushchenko, quoted by the Interfax agency.

The Communist Party is on paper one of the parliamentary opposition parties, but in reality it supports the Kremlin’s policies.

“Our task is to strengthen people during the election campaign so that there is victory on all fronts,” Mykola Kharitonov told the media, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

His program is called “Victory,” he added.

At the age of 75, Kharitonov is a veteran politician, having been a Duma deputy since 1993 and a member of the Russian Communist Party since 2008. After Russia’s attack on neighboring Ukraine, it is under sanctions from Europe, America and Canada.

Kharitonov ran for president in 2004, winning 13.69% of the vote against Vladimir Putin, who was then re-elected for the first time.

The leader of the Russian Communist Party, the iconic 79-year-old Gennady Zyuganov, will not participate in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada for the fifth time after 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2012.

Several candidates close to Vladimir Putin have already been confirmed by the election commission ahead of the March 15-17 presidential election.

64-year-old Serhii Baburin, president of the nationalist party “Union of the Russian People” and former vice-president of the State Duma, announced that he will run after already running for office in 2018 (gaining 0.65%).

Hryhoriy Yavlinskyi, founder of the liberal Yabloko party, announced in a video posted on YouTube on Saturday that his party would not nominate a candidate.

In March, Vladimir Putin is aiming for a new six-year term, a formality that will keep him in the Kremlin until at least 2030.