Ksenia Sobchak, Putin's Presidential Rival, Says Russia’s Crimea Annexation Violated International Law

Russian celebrity TV host and presidential candidate, Ksenia Sobchak, 35, held her first press conference Tuesday after announcing her bid for the presidency last week.

During the conference, which was held in Moscow, Sobchak touched upon the controversial issue of Crimea annexation from Ukraine by Russia. "According to international law, Crimea is Ukraine's. Period," she said and stressed Russia had violated the international law, according to The Moscow Times.

Sobchak opened the news conference by demanding the release of all 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," she said.

Svetova, a respected journalist, and a human rights activist, has been vocal about the release of political prisoners. In an interview with DW-TV — a German news outlet — in June, Svetova stressed Russia's situation had worsened during the time she had been working for human rights. From 2008 to 2016, she was also on a committee dedicated to the observance of human rights. That committee was one of 85 such regional committees in the country.

During the press conference, Sobchak aired a video clip about those people, who she considered, political prisoners. Among the people were Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov; the former security chief of the now-defunct Yukos oil company, Aleksei Pichugin; opposition activist Dmitry Buchenkov; and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, reports said.

Sentsov is in jail serving a 20-year prison term on terrorism charges while Pichugin has been imprisoned for life term for murder charges. Buchenkov is facing trial for allegedly assaulting police during some protests in 2012 and Serebrennikov is under house arrest for embezzlement charges.

Sobchak also hinted at the possible growing dissent among Russians for its current political elite. She said in the conference that elections usually taking place in Russia were "a high-budget show, but rather low in quality."

"My goal is to turn this show around and set my own rules of 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, according to Russian news agency TASS.

She also emphasized that she intended to enter the presidential race in Russia to ensure that the concerns of her generation are paid attention to. "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 the reporters.

Sobchak is the daughter of Putin's mentor and former St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Her mother is also a lawmaker at the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament. Sobchak was known for her fashionable socialite status after which she launched her TV career in which she was quite successful, the Washington Post reported.