Khakamada kicked-off her campaign by delivering a speech which placed the blame for the Moscow theater hostage crisis at Putin 's feet . She entered the election with better name recognition than most of the other candidates challenging Putin . Her candidacy was officially registered on 8 February . Khakamada was only the second woman to be a registered candidate in a Russian presidential election , after only Ella Pamfilova ( who ran in 2000 ) . Another woman would not be a registered candidate for another fourteen years , until Ksenia Sobchak 's campaign in the 2018 election
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Irina Khakamada