Nikolay Mikhailovich Kharitonov (; born 30 October 1948) is a Russian

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician who has served in the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

since 1994, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Development of Far Eastern and

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

regions since 2011. Kharitonov was the

Communist Party of the Russian Federation The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF; ) is a communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth o ...

's candidate for the

2004 Russian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Russia on 14 March 2004.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 Incumbent President Vladimir Putin was seeking a second full four-year term. It was a landslide v ...

and for the 2024 Russian presidential election, but was defeated in both by the incumbent president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. Kharitonov was previously a member of the Agrarian Party until he quit in protest of their cooperation with the ruling

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

party. He is best known for his unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in the 2004 presidential election, and came in second place. He ran for president again in the 2024 election, and lost again to Putin.

Biography

Nikolai Kharitonov was born on October 30, 1948, in the village of in

Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative center, administrative and economic center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of N ...

. He completed his education at the Novosibirsk Agricultural Institute. Between 1972 and 1994, he served as an agronomist and subsequently as the manager of the Galinsky state farm in the Moshkovsky District of Novosibirsk Oblast. Since 1994, he has been a member of the

2004 presidential campaign

Kharitonov was the Communist Party's nominee in the 2004 Russian presidential election. At the time, some observers perceived him to be a weak candidate, lacking in both name recognition and charisma. Russians were largely indifferent or unaware of his candidacy. He ran on the slogan "For the native land and the popular will", and spoke frequently of the virtues of

Leninism Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

. Kharitonov proposed re-erecting the statue of Soviet secret police founder

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

, which formerly stood in front of the

Lubyanka Building Lubyanka (, ) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Neo-Baroque building with a facade of yellow brick designed by Alex ...

until it was pulled down in 1991. Kharitonov was strongly supported by party leader

Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as Member of the State Duma since 1993. He is also the Chair of the Union ...

. Many of Kharitonov's advertisements featured Zyuganov speaking on behalf of his candidacy. Although Zyuganov had originally wanted the party to abstain from participating in the elections to protest what he considered to be the "undemocratic nature" of the election, he could not coalesce the party in agreement on non-participation and ultimately supported Kharitonov. Putin's camp believed that Kharitonov's candidacy benefited their cause by helping to increase turnout and weakening

Sergey Glazyev Sergey Yurievich Glazyev (; born January 1, 1961) is a Russian politician and economist, member of the National Financial Council of the Bank of Russia, and, since 2008, a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Glazyev was minister o ...

's vote share. The Communist Party had been besieged by fierce opposition ads during the preceding legislative election in 2003. However, Kharitonov escaped similar opposition ads, as Putin's campaign sought to avoid increasing his notoriety (thereby giving him a platform). During the campaign, Kharitonov threatened to drop out of the race if he did not receive live coverage for his speeches just as Putin had. Following his complaints, the RTR television network agreed to broadcast live coverage of a speech Kharitonov gave to his supporters in Tula on 4 March 2004. Kharitonov eventually lost the election, coming in second place with 13% of the vote.

2024 presidential campaign

Kharitonov announced that he would challenge Putin to a rematch in the 2024 Russian presidential election. Despite opposing many of Putin's domestic policies, he does not oppose the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, and as such has been placed on the sanctions list of the

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and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Kharitonov proposed a change in socio-economic policy, the development of industrial and agricultural sectors, and the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

of the nation's mineral resource base with the aim of generating new industrialization. Kharitonov also advocated the introduction of a progressive scale of taxation, lowering the retirement age to 55 for women and 60 for men, raising the monthly minimum wage to 35,000 rubles and increasing pensions. When asked by a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalist about his electoral campaign, Kharitonov refused to answer why he thought he would be a better candidate than Vladimir Putin, before proceeding to praise the latter for "trying to solve a lot of the problems of the 1990s" and consolidating the country for "victory in all areas". Kharitonov lost in a landslide, placing second with 4.4% of the vote compared to Putin's 88.5%.

Sanctions

On February 24, 2022, he was added to Canada's sanctions list of "close associates of the regime" for voting in favor of recognizing the independence of the "so-called republics in Donetsk and Luhansk." Additionally, he was included in the sanctions lists of

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Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

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. On March 24, 2022, he was included in the US sanctions list for "complicity in Putin's war" and "support for the Kremlin's efforts to invade Ukraine".

Notes

External links