He was captured on camera, refusing to stand and applaud when Putin referred to “national traitors” – a term used by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf – in a key speech. ![]() However, Ponomarev definitively crossed the Rubicon when he voted against the annexation of Crimea in 2014. ![]() Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, will run again in Russia’s elections in March The following year, he refused to support a law banning “gay propaganda”. In 2012, he and fellow party member Dmitry Gudkov played a prominent role in the “white ribbon” street protests against Putin, decrying the alleged rigging of the 2011 parliamentary and 2012 presidential elections. In 2007, at the age of 32, he entered the Duma, elected on the ticket of Just Russia, a social-democratic party within the Kremlin-approved “systemic opposition”.Įven so, Ponomarev stuck his neck out, invoking the “crooks and thieves” epithet for the ruling party that had earlier been popularised by Alexey Navalny, the opposition leader now behind bars. Such was his frustration that he decided to enter politics. In his 20s, he worked with Yukos Oil, then chaired by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oligarch now exiled in London.Īs he recounts in his book, he later worked with a TV company, almost striking a business deal with CNN that was scuppered by Putin. Who is the man who has reportedly been giving Putin, the president who will run again next year, nightmares? Who is Ponomarev?Ī self-confessed “libertarian communist”, Ponomarev hails from an elite background, his mother having once sat in parliament, his grandfather a former Russian ambassador to Poland.īorn in Moscow, the physics graduate started out as a tech entrepreneur, transferring his skills to the oil and gas industry. The 48-year-old compares himself to Charles de Gaulle, the French military leader who led his nation’s resistance to the Nazis from exile during World War II and later became president. ![]() To some, he cuts a maverick, temptingly plausible figure. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Republicans block Ukraine funding over US-Mexico border despite Biden pleas list 2 of 4 Ukraine’s war effort could sputter out, as US, EU delay funds list 3 of 4 Ukraine ‘will not back down’ against Russia as it urges Western support list 4 of 4 NATO chief urges allies to ‘stay the course’ in supporting Ukraine end of listĮxiled in Ukraine since 2016, Ponomarev is the political head of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a volunteer militia thought to include about 1,600 Russian dissidents and defectors using pinprick tactics to aggravate Russian troops with the aim of one day marching on Moscow.
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