Celebrity TV personality, journalist and socialite Xenia Sobchak announced that she is going to run for president in Russia's 2018 elections, according to a letter outlining her programme published on October 18 by the Vedomosti daily.

While few doubt that President Vladimir Putin will be elected for his fourth non-consecutive 6-year presidential term, flamboyant Sobchak might stir the public debate in a stagnant political landscape deliberately positioning herself as the protest vote from the opposition on the ballot.

Sobchak argues that she will represent the "Against All" vote option which was removed from the elections in 2006, because it threatened to win the most votes.

"Are you against [communist party leader Gennady] Zyuganov, [opposition leader Grigory] Yavlinsky, Putin, and their faceless doubles being the only candidates on the ballot list? You want to show an active position, but your candidate was taken off the race? You don't have a candidate? Vote Sobchak," her letter reads.

"You are not electing her to be the president. You are getting a legal and peaceful way to say Enough! I'm fed up!," Sobchak adds.

Sobchak, 35, is a daughter of St Petersburg ex-mayor Anatoly Sobchak who was the first patron of then ex-KGB operative Vladimir Putin in big politics. Sobchak is often described as "Russian Paris Hilton". She first became nationally famous by hosting a scandalous reality TV show. Putin is also said to be her god-father, although Sobchak denies this.

However, she has also showed a solid civic position during the large protests of 2011-2012 and the formation of the Opposition Coordination Committee in 2013, and is often outspoken on critical Russian social and political issues.

This could make Sobchak an appealing vote for liberal electorate as well as women voters whom she also specifically addressed in the announcement.

"This is not our project," an unnamed source in the current presidential administration told Gazeta.ru on the Sobchak announcement, as many were anticipating Kremlin to put fabricate a stunt candidate for the 2018 presidential race. 

 

The relationship between Sobchak and Putin is ambiguous. While she has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and a frequent speaker at opposition rallies, she is also a product of the system; a large question market floats over where her money comes from as officially her now dead father was a public servant on a small official salary. She met with Putin last week to nominally talk about reforms, but it is widely believed that Putin asked her to stand in opposition to him to give some creditability to the up coming elections.

Should the announcement be serious, Sobchak will have to go through the scrutiny of complying with presidential elections candidature rules. For an independent candidate the biggest obstacle is collecting 300,000 support signatures in at least 40 Russian regions. For this she will need the Kremlin’s help.