Putin challenger says he is barred from election

Russia's election commission has rejected anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate in next month's presidential vote, he has announced on social media.

Mr Nadezhdin has been relatively critical of Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine and few dissenting voices have been tolerated in Russia.

He had tried to challenge claims by the election commission that more than 15% of the signatures he submitted with his application were flawed.

But he says his bid was rejected.

Refusing to give up, Mr Nadezhdin said on social media that he would challenge the decision in Russia's Supreme Court.

"I collected more than 200,000 signatures across Russia. We conducted the collection openly and honestly."

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