Vladislav Davankov

Vladislav Andreyevich Davankov (; born 25 February 1984 in Smolensk) is a Russian politician serving as Vice Chair of the State Duma since 2021. Davankov sits in the State Duma with the liberal-oriented New People caucus, which, with him as a key member, was the only parliamentary party to not support the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions from Ukraine in the prelude to the Russian invasion.

Davankov was running as a candidate in the 2024 Russian presidential election, and announced in February 2024 that he was in favour of "peace and negotiations, but on our terms, and without a rollback" on the war in Ukraine, as well as the ending of unnecessary censorship. He conceded his defeat and affirmed his support for Putin and the war the following day.

Early life Born in Smolensk, Davankov later moved to Moscow, where he graduated from Moscow State University. He graduated in 2006 from the Faculty of History. His father was a military pilot.

Business career

Following his graduation, Davankov started working at a direct sales company ("Faberlic") founded by Alexey Nechayev. Davankov rose up the corporate ladder of the company to become its Vice President in 2013.

Political career In 2020, Nechayev founded the New People political party, and appointed Davankov as the head of its Central Executive Committee. At the 2021 Russian legislative election, Davankov was elected to the State Duma. Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin then appointed Davankov deputy chair, a move set by the precedent that sees at least one deputy chair appointed per political bloc.

Davankov's party opposed mandatory vaccinations during the 2020-21 coronavirus pandemic. In the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, New People was the only party in the Duma to abstain in the vote on the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as states independent from Ukraine. He was nonetheless placed on the sanctions list of the United Kingdom along with other lawmakers.

In the State Duma, he was a lead figure in the creation of a law protecting people's online data. Davankov had instead suggested that they could be allowed to be shown but that "compulsory licenses" should be given to films and products from "unfriendly countries".

2024 Russian presidential election

Davankov was a candidate at the 2024 Russian presidential election. Despite his candidacy, he also signed his name in support of anti-war activist Boris Nadezhdin’s candidacy, arguing that the country should allow great ballot access to all candidates. On 15 February 2024, Davankov released his electoral manifesto, calling for 'peace and negotiations' in regards to the war in Ukraine. He proposed ending government censorship, describing it as "cancel culture", and compared it to "the worst Soviet repression”. The Kremlin reportedly feared Davankov's candidacy in the election and his youthfulness compared to Putin, and so had unsuccessfully tried to interfere and get an "older and less charismatic stand-in" to replace him. A state-run poll showed Davankov second after Putin in the election race, and the CEPA observed that "should Nadezhdin’s followers come out and push Davankov above 10%, the Kremlin may very well find itself having to recalibrate its propaganda about the war, at the very least". Davankov is also campaigning for economic decentralisation and modernisation, and an increase in money for the education and health budgets. On a visit to the city of Krasnogorsk, which had previously seen social tensions with migrants, Davankov said that Russian industry should focus on automation and new technologies instead of utilising cheap migrant labour. Davankov said he will not criticize his political opponents.

Assessments According to Andrey Pertsev, a special correspondent for Meduza, Vladislav Davankov is the nephew of Alexander Davankov, a friend of Alexey Nechayev, chairman of the New People party, and his business partner in Faberlic. According to Pertsev, Alexander Davankov helped introduce Nechayev to the Kovalchuk family and to the head of the domestic policy bloc of the Presidential Administration, which resulted in Nechayev receiving support from the Kremlin.