Kazan public figure to run for president in Chechnya

Dmitrii Berdnikov, a resident of the Republic of Tatarstan, has filed an application to Chechnya's electoral commission requesting registration as a candidate for the office of president of the republic. This is what a republican electoral commission official told Caucasian Knot's correspondent. "Dmitrii Berdnikov, an officer of the public organization Against Crime and Lawlessness operating in Kazan, filed an application to the republican electoral commission through his representative with a request to register him as a candidate for president of Chechnya. According to the republican Constitution, any citizen of the Russian Federation aged 30 or above may become president of Chechnya, so we do not see any grounds for us to refuse to accept Berdnikov's application. He has become the 17th officially registered candidate for this office," the Chechen central electoral commission official said.

Dmitrii Berdnikov is 37. He is Russian. He has higher education (a graduate from the Kazan Institute of Finance and Economy). For the time being, Dmitrii Berdnikov is the only non-Chechen candidate who has expressed a wish to contend for the office of president of Chechnya. In doing so, this contender has practically no chances to be elected head of the republic, in the opinion of the people from the Chechen central electoral commission. "To our mind, Berdnikov is perfectly aware that he has no chances. Most likely, he just wants to become known. This is just for publicity," the electoral commission people believe.