Irina Khakamada

Khakamada was an elected Duma representative from 1993 to 2003. She is regarded as a democratic politician who is in a moderate opposition to the Russian government. She is known for criticizing the governmental actions during Moscow theater hostage crisis where she was involved as one of the negotiators. Khakamada stated that the hostage takers were not going to use their bombs to kill the people and destroy the building.[8]

Khakamada was a member of the coordinating council of the Union of Right Forces. She opted to abstain from the council's vote on their endorsement in the 2000 presidential election, in which the party ultimately voted to support Vladimir Putin's campaign over that of council member Konstantin Titov.[9]

Khakamada was one of the leaders of the Union of Rightist Forces when she decided to run in the 2004 Russian presidential election. She was not supported by her party, which had decided that they would not nominate a candidate.[10] She announced her candidacy in December 2003.[11]

Khakamada kicked off her campaign by delivering a speech which placed the blame for the Moscow theater hostage crisis at Putin's feet.[12][11] She entered the election with better name recognition than most of the other candidates challenging Putin.[10] Her candidacy was officially registered on 8 February.[10] Khakamada was only the second woman to be a registered candidate in a Russian presidential election, after only Ella Pamfilova in 2000.[13]

Khakamada claimed her motivation for running was her desire to see a liberal opposition candidate.[12] She would ultimately be the only liberal opposition candidate to run.[12]

In an article published in Novaya Gazeta, Yulia Latynina alleged that Khakamada only entered the election to feign a role of a democratic opponent to provide more legitimacy to the election of Vladimir Putin. Khakamada denied such allegations.[14][15]

Khakamada's campaign slogan was “Irina Khakamada: Our Voice”.[12] Her campaign received funding from Boris Nevzlin, a former Yukos chief who was being targeted for international investigation by Russian authorities and was residing in Israel during the campaign.[12] She was outspoken about unfair conditions of the election, particularly about its media coverage.[12] Early into the campaign, analysts predicted that she might be able to receive more than 10% of the vote.[12] Khakamada received 3.9% of votes.[16][17] While she declared that she found her performance in the election to have been, "satisfactory", she alleged that there had been many irregularities with the vote.[18]

After the election Khakamada founded a new political party named Our Choice.[18] Since 2004, the chairman of the Party reorganized into the "Our Choice Interregional Public Fund for Social Solidarity", which in 2006 became part of the Russian People’s Democratic Union (RNDS) political party, led by Mikhail Kasyanov and her.

Khakamada published the book "Gender in big-time politics"[19] describing her personal experience of work in Kremlin.[20]

On 11 June 2006 Boris Berezovsky, a fugitive from the Russian justice system, said Boris Nemtsov received word from Khakamada that Putin threatened her and like-minded colleagues in person. According to Berezovsky, Putin had issued threats that Khakamada and her colleagues "will take in the head immediately, literally, not figuratively" if they "open the mouth" about the Russian apartment bombings.[21]

Former FSS officer Alexander Litvinenko said he had learned from Anna Politkovskaya that Putin asked Khakamada to pass a threat to Politkovskaya.[22] Khakamada denied her involvement in passing any specific threats, and said that she warned Politkovskaya only in general terms more than a year earlier, and that Politkovskaya blamed her and Mikhail Kasyanov for becoming Kremlin's puppets.[23] Politkovskaya and Litvinenko were murdered in October and November 2006.

2008, Khakamada left the party of her own accord, explaining the cessation of her political activities.[24]

Khakamada in 2013

2016, she became a member of the Council of the Political Growth Party.[25] She took part in the elections to the State Duma of the 7th convocation as a candidate from the “Party of Growth”, in the first part of the regional list of Moscow.[26] The party won 1.28% of the vote and was unable to sit in parliament.[27]

• Profile — from mosnews.com
• A challenger for the presidency

• Official site
• Irina Khakamada about her book Archived February 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• A chapter from the book Archived July 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
• Another chapter from the book Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
• Irina Khakamada about hostage crisis, interview by Anna Politkovskaya
• Presidential race
• Criticism Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine by Yulia Latynina
• Reply to the criticism
• Interview - Radio Free Europe
• Interview - Radio Free Europe
• Interview - Radio Free Europe