Environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova has been officially registered as a candidate for mayor of the Moscow satellite city of Khimki, according to the Moscow Region Election Commission.

      Chirikova, 35, is a consensus nominee of the Russian opposition. She is most famous for her organization of a big campaign to save Khimki forestland that stood in the path of a planned Moscow-St. Petersburg highway. Later she entered the Russian opposition movement and started playing a leading role in the organization of the unprecedented protests against current Russia's authorities.

      The Khimki elections were called after former mayor Vladimir Strelchenko quit his post on August 14. The elections are expected to be held on October 14, in a day of nationwide voting for regional authorities. Russian opposition considers that day as a crucial stage in their bid to dislodge Putin and his supporters from power.