She is a twenty-one-year-old student at Lomonosov Moscow State University and is famous for hanging the plaster models of her breasts on the walls of six buildings, which are going to be demolished as a result of the controversial renovation program launched by the Moscow authorities. This is a part of her political campaign. Her name is Lucya Stein. Stein is one of the candidates in the municipal election taking place in the capital of Russia on September, 10th, 2017.

The renovation program was a continuation of the policy started under the previous administration of the Russian capital. The idea was to bring down all five-story apartment blocks built in the middle of the 20th century, and in return provide their tenants with brand-new apartments for free. The problem was that many of the buildings added to the demolition list were decent and expensive property in the center of Moscow, and people were not willing to be relocated to the suburbs. At the same time, the tenants of other buildings in disrepair who had been begging for new apartments for decades were ignored and excluded from the program.

Lucya is not ashamed of using her body for political goals. According to her public statements, her gesture refers to a well-known Russian idiom commonly used at the time of war that says that one is ready to sacrifice her life by putting herself in harm’s way. “Once a woman’s breast has already been a symbol of the revolution, depicted in Liberty Leading the People painting by Eugène Delacroix at the time of the 1830 French revolution. It is time to pull it out of pornographers’ hands and resurface it as a symbol of the protest,” Lucya told Afisha magazine in June.

“I have been interested in politics for awhile. I participated in the protests and wrote articles about them. Now I want to move from words to actions, and the municipal campaign is a great opportunity for me. At least, I have tried to solve the problems,” Lucya describes her campaign experience. “For instance, I have realized that anti-semitism still exists in Russia and I was the object of an attack. Surprisingly, I have gone through it much easier that I could have imagined.”

Municipal election campaigns on this level do not usually attract the attention of a wide audience, due to the predictability of the outcome. In the past, there was no significant resistance at the grassroot campaign level. The non-parliamentary opposition did not actively exercise campaign techniques, partially because of a scarcity of funding and human resources, partially because of limited access to major TV networks (which are still government-owned), and partially because of the general population’s disbelief in the victory of their candidates.

The situation changed after the mass street protests against electoral fraud in 2011-2013, which followed the presidential and parliamentary campaigns. It was the moment when people without professional political background decided to run for electoral offices. The only available option for them was municipal elections; unexpectedly, a number of candidates have won.

Vera Kichanova, a former journalist and political activist for the Libertarian Party, is one of those independent candidates who got the mandate. “I was elected in 2012. Three years later, I stepped down from the office and moved to Kiev. I was inspired by what had happened there at the Maidan Square. I started working with for the team of the Ukrainian reformers and took a fellowship at Oxford to study government management. Overall, I believe I also played a role in increasing the interest for participation in self-governing in Moscow. The more independent municipal deputies we have, the better it is. Now I would not run for the same office but I respect those who do it a lot.”

The present situation is of a similar nature, but the phenomenon of brand new names on the political stage is much broader.

Earlier this spring, Moscow scene was rich with mass street protests. Tired of abstract mottos about Putin resigning, the opposition movement switched to the other angles of the same conversation. This time, its leaders called for a fight against corruption at multiple government levels and against the controversial reconstruction program in Moscow.

Many observers criticized this new strategy, pronouncing the death of the protest movement, until they realized that the spring protests brought the next generation of activists to the streets. These new faces of the opposition were the young adults, some teenagers, who got arrested together with their more mature fellow citizens. Together they gave birth to the dying protest movement in Russia.

In spite of growing up in Putin’s Russia and force fed the traditional values of the regime, including radical patriotism, political conservatism, and intolerance for many minorities, these protesters do not blindly believe what they are being told, according to multiple opinion pieces in liberal media publications. Delighted by everything related to this age group starting from their slang and ending with their passion for rap battles, the writers have praised the cult of this generation.  

"They are very, very young. They are technology professionals, economists, well-educated students or recent college graduates. They are great admirers of quality and comfort living. They want to improve the environment around them and do not understand the concept of not sticking their necks out...  At the same time, they do not behave like pure idealists. I would say they are in this campaign, because they have never experienced the repercussions, but I hope they can also handle the difficulties well," says Tatiana Krasnova, a faculty member for the School of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, and a co-founder of the charity foundation Galchonok, which helps candidates with their public strategy.

Another prominent participant of the election campaign is Ilya Azar, 33, a former political correspondent for Lenta.ru, Meduza and a present contributor for Novaya Gazeta, one of few independent media outlets in Russia. He has recently announced on his Facebook that his wife is pregnant.

“As a journalist and as a citizen, I am very dissatisfied with the actions of the Russian authorities. I realize that my articles do not change the situation for the better and I want to do something different to influence the situation. A municipal deputy deals mostly with local concerns in his district. For example, opening a grocery store at a particular location or lobbying for a new kids playground. I understand that the American audience may say that Russia needs more global changes, but after the Crimea annexation, many people came to believe that global changes are impossible in Russia. We believe we can influence changes at the local level and we go for it. I think this is exactly why so many people are interested in participating in this election,” explains Ilya Azar. “I do not think I am crossing the line. I do not consider the job of a municipal deputy as political involvement. The post does not even carry a salary. I would say it is just public service. If I am elected, I will continue to work in journalism. So long as I do not write about Moscow, there is no conflict of interest.”

Lucya Stein, Ilya Azar and approximately a thousand independent candidates are supported by the project, launched by a former member of the State Duma, Dmitry Gudkov, and Yabloko, the political opposition party that has not won a seat in the State Duma in over a decade. Keeping in mind that the Russian opposition has a history of internal conflicts and endless disagreements, this time Gudkov decided to focus on reuniting not its leaders, but regular activists.

“The project addresses the deferred demand. In Russia, when someone wants to start his political career, he does not know what to start with to become a candidate," explains Gudkov. "We created this sort of a LEGO set for those who are looking to participate in the election. Our office is taking care of the procedural steps. For instance, when the candidates need to publish promotional materials, they just log on to our system and the templates are already there. We help them with the photo sessions for their posters and pay for beautiful panoramic pictures of the districts where they are running. We provide them with all support and information they need. The only thing they need to do is to campaign.”

According to Gudkov, three and a half thousand people wanted to use the resources of his project. However, two and a half thousand of them were rejected for their pro-government political views. "We need people with an understanding of our main goal, which is the replacement of the current regime in Russia. Therefore, we do not endorse those who support Vladimir Putin or other major fractions represented in the parliament," Gudkov says.

He was able to raise 50 million rubles (approximately 877 thousand dollars) for the campaign. Part of this money came from crowdfunding, part was donated by the candidates themselves.

Facing the traditional obstacle of getting access to major TV networks, owned by the government, Gudkov and his team focused on the younger and more politically active audience of social networks. They advertised the campaign on Twitter, Facebook, and Google. In addition, the candidates literally knocked on the doors of their constituents.  “I visited 700 apartments and I was surprised by the fact almost everyone in my district hates Sergey Sobyanin, the current mayor of Moscow,” Ilya Azar describes his experience.

Gudkov seems to be very proud of this project. “This is not about Yabloko, this is about the coalition of all democrat powers,” says Gudkov.

Nonetheless, there is a huge problem. Not many people in Moscow know about the municipal election. “The majority of Muscovites learn about it from our candidates directly and by word of mouth. The party of power, Edinaya Rossia, uses all the methods to hide the fact we are having this election. Their goal is to reduce the voter turnout in order to get their candidates elected by using the votes of municipal workers who are fully dependant on the Moscow authorities and always pick the candidates they are told to pick,” Gudkov complains.

Indeed, many locals say that the municipal election stands around Moscow districts are devoid of any information about the time of the election, the  polling places or the candidates, including not only the opposition candidates but also those who are representing the party in power.

“The political system in Moscow is architectured in the most convenient way for the authorities. This is the mechanism that does not allow the Muscovites to provide any feedback. Independent municipal deputies are the only power that would help the locals to influence the decisions of the authorities. Under present circumstances, we are fighting only against candidates from Edinaya Rossia,” the leader of the Communist Party in Moscow, Andrey Klichkov says.

The importance of the municipal elections cannot be overstated. Any political grouping that wants its candidates for mayor in 2018 to be registered must go through the so-called municipal filter, which means every participant needs to obtain at least 110 signatures of the loyal municipal deputies. For his part, Gudkov wants to challenge this system.

In 2013 during the previous mayoral campaign, another opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, competed for the office of the Mayor of Moscow. The final stage of his campaign coincided with the trial of Kirovles, where Navalny was the criminal defendant. Many observers considered the legal case politically motivated. In spite of that, on election day Navalny received the support of 27% of the voters. He сonceded to the current mayor Sergey Sobyanin, whose result was 51%, but showed a higher level of popularity than any other candidate from the political parties represented in the State Duma.

This time Navalny seems to be less interested in the campaign. He has publicly endorsed just a few candidates with whom he collaborates on his anti-corruption projects, but stayed away from extensive coverage of the municipal campaign in his blog.

“He sees himself as a celestial being and believes there is no one who is equal to him, except Putin. But Navaly is slightly jealous of Gudkov, and his lack of participation works directly for Edinaya Rossia, further lowering the interest of the electorate in the election,” points out Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst and publicist who is now very critical of the Kremlin.

Just a few days before election day, Navalny released a video clip asking everyone to go to the polling places. At that moment, he was sitting in front of a laptop with a sticker advertising Navalny as a candidate for the Presidential elections in 2018.

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, TV Rain reports, voted in the municipal election on camera earlier this week for the very first time.

“I do not think the president advertises it. All evening news program on federal TV channels start after 8 p.m. when the polling places are already closed. Therefore, when people see a report about Putin voting on the municipal election, it will have no impact. The message would be: “Hey, guys! We had a municipal election, but you already missed your chance to vote!” says a political consultant affiliated with Edinaya Rossia.

Some political analysts believe that controversial decisions of the local Moscow authorities, such as the renovation program, will induce voters to come to the polling stations.

Gudkov is staying positive. “According to our data, 15% of Moscow voters supports our democratic coalition. If these 15% come and vote, it would allow us to get enough mandates for the next step - the mayoral campaign,” he says.

However, another opinion is also very popular among Moscow liberals. They maintain that voters have not had the opportunity to compare different candidates and make an educated choice in advance of coming to the polling place. “When people are not properly informed about the fact they have the election, they cannot fully exercise their right to make this choice, and this makes the election illegitimate” journalist Tonya Samsonova posted on her page on Facebook.

Talking about September 10th, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin invited the residents to join the celebration of 870 anniversary since Moscow was founded, but did not mention that the city needs to elect its municipal deputies.

Uliana Malashenko is the US correspondent for Business FM, a former parlimaentary correspondent at the State Duma for TV Rain and Kommersant FM.

Image: Reuters.