Overview

• Russia's national elections commission has registered Nikolai Kharitonov, the Communist Party's candidate, to compete in the upcoming presidential election.
• Kharitonov, a member of the lower house of parliament, has opposed some of Putin's domestic policies but not Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
• Kharitonov joins two other candidates who were approved for the ballot last week, Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party.
• Despite the Communist candidate typically receiving the second-highest vote tally, Kharitonov is not expected to present a significant challenge to Putin.
• Putin, who is running as an independent, has dominated Russian politics since he was first elected to the presidency in 2000.