ksenia sobchak is on the campaign trail.k here is to show that she can speak to ordinary russians, too. the biggest problem in russia is not freedom of speech, unfortunately, for many people. it's the poverty. out in the suburbs, residents have been complaining they can't get their children into a local nursery. now she's haranguing some local officials. this is pretty much the kind of thing that putin does when he goes around the regions. how do you feel like people react to you, coming — as you do — from quite a privileged background? you know, i don't try to be like "i am like one of you", because, well, it's not true. if i wear red lipstick in my everyday time, why should i go without make up to them? it's not kind of true, i'm not a populist. so, yes, i come in a good car and in good clothes, but i own this money, i didn't steal that. corruption is a big issue in this election for all candidates. after a slightly optimistic welcome at local campaign headquarters, ksenia takes things one step further. in russian politics

could it be that ksenia sobchak is doing the kremlin‘s bidding?lity of a second referendum. it‘s fair to say brexiteers are not impressed. i think generally a good idea for previous prime ministers, whatever their views on either side of this argument or any argument... normally, if you haven‘t got anything positive to say, probably best to keep quiet. and did we used to be better at dealing with this? good evening. from syria, to cyber warfare, to the american presidency, to energy supply — if you think the russian presidential election doesn‘t have an impact on our lives, think again. tonight, an extraordinary film ahead of next month‘s vote. tomorrow, vladimir putin delivers his annual address to the russian parliament and other members of the russian political elite. the speech is likely to contain a slew of spending promises, but even if he feels the need to go a—wooing, there‘s little doubt that he‘ll be the man delivering them after the election. the first round is in less than three weeks, and without some seismic upset, putin will win his

r orter: for the russian establishment, sobchak is no threat. liberal ideas aren't she's polling at 1.5%. he admits she has no chance, and accuses putin acking the deck. i s a casino where one person always wins and others lose. >> reporter: so why even take paocrt in a s that as you said yourself will end up in putin's election? >> the goal is to get the microphone. the goal is be heard by millions of people who never watched internet, who do notei know who is alavalny, and who know me only because i am very, you know, big media figure in russia. so i want to use my popularity to convince those people that changes are needed. >> she is filling that void. shis giving voice to those people. but again, that voice is only temporary, the elections are not lial, and so in many ways, she falls potentially into trap of being used by the regime to legitimize herself. >> reporter: that skepticism followed her to washington. she spent all last week holding events and giving interviews, advocating against the same sanctions the kremlin complas about. in th

. >> reporter: sobchak grew up not having to fear anything. inhabited the privileged post-soviet elite. she became a reality-tv star, a millionaire entrepreneur with a commercial empire, a socialite with 5.5 million instagram followers.el she traveled wand lived well and voted for putin. but in 2011 she switched sides. she joined massive protests to criticize putin for being corrupt and authoritarian. she posted anti-government and she became a journalist on russia's only opposition tv channel. for her efforts, she was hounded by police. that's her being detained in 2012. cday on the campaign trail, she argues putin had tnce to enrich the country, and instead enriched himself. >> we had so much oil money but they were all disappeared. no roads. no hospitals. but moreover, no new industries. we don't have a single thing we can be proud of, only s for the people who are connected to our president. >> reporter: with all due respect, you have definitely been part of the privileged class. so why would someone in russia think, you know, you can chan

and ksenia sobchak is just 36 years old, and she barely squeaks by the minimum age requirement. reality tv star, and magazine editor, she doesn't have a traditional resume, but her father was once vladimir putin's mentor. the candidate of the party, sobchak was on a tour including a trip to washington where she was invited to trump's breakfast. pleasure to have you on. >> thank you for inviting manin >> the big question people have, can you conceivably win? is this going to be a real election? >> no. in russia, we have a joke that you cannot choose your parents, you cannot choose your gender, and you cannot choose your president. putin always wins. like in a casino, you know, it's always -- the winner is always on the house, but it doesn't mean we stay at home and do nothing. even though alexa navalny is not allowed, which is totally unfair, but in football, the best player goes off the match, the next one has to come into the play. so -- and that's me, and i hope that around me, i can unite people with views to show some result and to show that we're against putin and russia is

and that's precisely whykremlin chose ksenia sobchak as a substitution, as a way to get the desirable term out. ksenia sobchakthe idea was eas. not the was that when kremlin, but the central election committee commission, but of course you understand all of them are just parts, when they denied the registration, the expectations were that these will bring thousands of young people in the streets. just the way it happened in -- on march 26 and on june 12 when all of a sudden young people all across russia went out on the streets -- they called them for these actions. it was wow. not just for kremlin, of course. they don't have a real feedback. even for us, wouldn't expect this to happen, so that became a nightmare for the presidential administration, that young people were going to come out on the streets. the minute it was going to be announced, not going to be registered as candidate. so you know by russian law those trying to get registered as candidates, they have to be voted by people in different -- 16,000 young people came out on the streets in different cities and they said we

a lot of things and i don't think it's quite correct tosk the same things of a businessman ksenia sobchak who was doing business and successful business for many years and from presidents who should be doing i'm not comparing you but your way are you saying these things could be applied to me what they say may have been doing or i didn't do than you do it for ten years economy of the country but i was not told him if you have me running and you know for example you do mean i was doing my own business and if you didn't hear run for the position of the president i would assume maybe i'm wrong that it requires a certain degree of public involvement of the daleks service i'm sorry in the country which is autocratic like russia that only one quality you need to run to the president one quality that i would say no volley and i share the braveness because people who go against putin the end their life in prison and you know this for sure so. to be highly developed you know and manage it this is unfortunately not enough now you have to be brave and after those people like me will great this wall

a lot of things and i don't think it's quite correct tosk the same things of a businessman ksenia sobchak who was doing business and successful business for many years and from presidents who should be doing i'm not comparing you but your way are you saying these things could be applied to me was this a me i did a doing or didn't do can you do it for ten years economy of the country but i was not to attend if you have been running downhill for example you mean i was doing my own business and if you didn't hear run for the position of the president i would assume maybe i'm wrong that it requires a certain degree of public involvement of the daleks service i'm sorry in the country which is autocratic like russia that only one quality you need to run for president is one quality that i would say no vali and i share the braveness because people who go against putin the end their life in prison and you know this for sure so. to be highly developed you know. manager this is unfortunately not enough now you have to be brave and ask to those people like me will great this wall of autocracy that t

. >> ksenis sobchak, thank you very much. of course, her family had been quite close to putin.so it kind of makes for an interesting dynamic. >> very, very interesting, fascinating. thank you so much. as we go to break, we're going to show you some images of vice president mike pence at the winter olympics opening ceremony in south korea. now, the younger woman seated behind pence is the influential sister of north korean dictator kim jong-un. she is currently under u.s. sanctions for human rights violations. just to note, the vice president's going to be sitting down with lester holt tonight on nbc nightly news. excuse me, are you aware of what's happening right now? we're facing 20 billion security events every day. ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks... actually, we just handled all the priority threats. you did that? we did that. really. we analyzed millions of articles and reports. we can identify threats 50% faster. you can do that? we can do that. then do that. can we do that? we can do that. need a change of scenery? the kayak price forecast tool tells you wheth