The Electoral Commission validated the candidacies of Leonid Sloutski and Vladislav Davankov.
The two contenders for the next Russian presidential election will face Vladimir Putin on March 15.
Leonid Sloutski, 56, is leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the Duma. Vladislav Davankov, aged 39, is also a Duma deputy. His party, created in 2020, holds 15 seats out of the 450 in Parliament.
Both men are under sanctions from the European Union and the United Kingdom over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in Ukraine.