Ballerina eyeing Russian mayoral seat

SOCHI, Russia, March 27 (UPI) -- Famed ballerina Anastasia Volochkova says she will be among the 23 candidates vying for the mayoral seat in the Russian city of Sochi.

Volochkova, who earned notoriety for being dismissed from the Bolshoi Theater in 2003, announced in a statement she has provided the Sochi elections commission with all necessary paperwork for her mayoral run, The Moscow Times reported Friday.

"I am going to stand to protect people," Volochkova said in a statement Thursday. "I am not the Kremlin's candidate. I am the candidate of the owners of small hotels and street cafes."

Among the topics that Volochkova is seeking to focus on include transportation and the pollution of the Black Sea as the result of sewage dumps. The mayoral election is April 26.

The Times said in addition to Volochkova, who is a prima ballerina in the city of Krasnodar, other notable Sochi mayoral candidates include businessman Alexander Lebedev, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and former presidential candidate Andrei Bogdanov.