--- description: Russia votes on Sept. 18 to elect members of its State Duma, or lower house of parliament. Experts predict the vote will deliver a firmly pro-Kremlin Duma, as liberal opposition parties have been systematically repressed since disputed elections in 2011 sparked protests against President Vladimir Putin. Even so, some liberal candidates are trying to make their mark. title: Putin’s Liberal Opponents image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Putin's Liberal Opponents by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2016 9:59 AM CUT by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2016 9:59 AM CUT DMITRY GUDKOV Gudkov, 36, is currently the sole liberal opposition lawmaker in the Duma and has been called “Putin’s nemesis.” He’s running for re-election after his pro-Kremlin party expelled him for backing the 2011 protests. MARIA BARONOVA The activist, 32, is an independent candidate for a Moscow seat. She is one of 18 candidates supported by Open Russia, a reform movement launched by exiled tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. BULAT BARANTAYEV One of the first openly gay men to run for a seat in modern Russian history, the 33-year-old doesn’t expect a win but hopes the campaign will inspire the LGBT community to stand up to bigotry. He also wants Putin jailed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4494786/putins-liberal-opponents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4494786/putins-liberal-opponents/"},"headline":"Putin's Liberal Opponents","datePublished":"2016-09-15T09:59:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:37:01.784Z","description":"Russia votes on Sept. 18 to elect members of its State Duma, or lower house of parliament. Experts predict the vote will deliver a firmly pro-Kremlin Duma, as liberal opposition parties have been systematically repressed since disputed elections in 2011 sparked protests against President Vladimir Putin. Even so, some liberal candidates are trying to make their mark.","url":"https://time.com/4494786/putins-liberal-opponents/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4494786/putins-liberal-opponents/","name":"Putin's Liberal Opponents"}}]}] ```