Anti-war Russian politician says Kremlin wants to 'crush' his campaign

Police have summoned the politician, Boris Nadezhdin, to court on Friday on administrative charges of "displaying extremist symbols".

Nadezhdin, who shot to fame and was then barred from standing against Vladimir Putin in the 2024 presidential election, has also been declared a "foreign agent" by authorities -- a label used widely to stifle dissent.

Nadezhdin said he was hoping for a "miracle" to be able to stand for office, but was also considering leaving Russia to stay alive.

He had been campaigning in Moscow's northern suburbs on a platform of ending Russia's grinding war in Ukraine.

"This has obviously strongly annoyed our leadership," he told the Russian independent Breakfast Show radio.

For the authorities, "I am suspicious and should be crushed straight away," he said.

It will be Russia's first parliamentary elections since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in 2022.

The Kremlin has ushered in Soviet-like levels of repression and censorship alongside the military campaign.

Nadezhdin said he was mulling exile, as he did "not want to repeat the path of Alexei Navalny" -- the Putin opponent who died in an Arctic prison in 2024.

"A person of my age and with my heart will not last long in a stuffy cell," he said.

At the same time he said he was still clinging to the idea, despite all odds, that he might be allowed to run.

"My whole life in recent years is a series of miracles," said Nadezhdin, whose name is a variation of the word "hope" in Russian.

He faces only a short-term prison sentence for an "extremism" offence over displaying a photo of Navalny in a 2023 video.

But a conviction would bar him from running, and Russian authorities often use short-term sentences as a first step to heavier charges.

All of Putin's major political opponents are in exile, prison or dead.

Ukrainian strikes have caused nationwide fuel shortages, and Putin's personal ratings have taken a hit in the run-up to the September election.

Since he came to power, Putin has always exerted tight control over elections, but opposing the Kremlin has become much more dangerous since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.