MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Russian journalist and TV host Ksenia Sobchak, who recently announced her plans to run for president, has said that she wants to turn the situation around and put forward new rules to the game. While addressing a press conference on Tuesday, she said that elections that usually took place in Russia were "a high-budget show, yet rather low in quality."

"My goal is to turn this show around and set my own rules for the game," Sobchak said. "My goal is to make it so that the situation which we see at every election - the same candidates, the same faces… to turn the situation around and completely change it," she added.

Sobchak also said she expected that "the ‘against all’ line [in voting ballots] will become the starting point that will bring a lot of people together."

According to Sobchak, she shares the position of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of Yukos oil company, who says that voters should not boycott the presidential election. Besides, the journalist said that Khodorkovsky supported her participation in the election.

"I definitely understand and support his statements as they are in line with my views and will become part of our ‘against all’ platform," Sobchak noted. "I am grateful to Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky] for his willingness to provide support and for understanding why our civil society needs it right now," she added.

The presidential election in Russia will take place on March 18, 2018. Sobchak said earlier that she would consider herself to be the "against all" candidate.

The Voice of the generation 

Sobchak has said she intends to enter the presidential race in Russia to make sure that the voice of her generation is heeded and that she can publically speak about the current problems.

"I do not purport to be a professional politician. I do believe, however, that it is vital to make sure that the voice of my generation is heard at this election," she told reporters. 
Sobchak added that the people of her generation could come to power in this or the next presidential election.

"I am not a person who is representing some political party right now. <…> Today, I am stepping up to the plate on my own to say that I oppose what is happening to our country," the TV socialite stressed.

Political prisoners 

The Russian journalist also intends to press for the release of political prisoners: 
"Renowned human rights activist Zoya Svetova publicly stated that I, as a presidential contender, will have to strive for political prisoners’ release by the authorities. That’s exactly what I’m going to do," Sobchak said at Tuesday’s press conference.

"I’ll start off my press conference by demanding to release political prisoners and stop illegal prosecution of people who are not guilty," she added.

On Wednesday, Ksenia Sobchak, 35, Russian socialite and TV host, decided to throw her hat into the ring for the 2018 Russian presidential race. She is the daughter of late Anatoly Sobchak, St. Petersburg’s first democratically elected mayor, who was once a political mentor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sobchak said her candidacy should be considered an anti-establishment alternative, inviting all political forces to challenge the current Russian authorities.