Russian exiled leader: Post-Putin era may be ‘months’ away
Ilya Ponomarev’s life changed forever in March 2014, when he became the sole member of the Duma – Russia’s lower house of parliament – to vote “no” on the annexation of Crimea.
Russia’s takeover of the strategically significant peninsula from Ukraine, we now know, was just the opening act in President Vladimir Putin’s eventual full-blown invasion of Ukraine.
Today, Mr. Ponomarev, now in his late 40s and a Ukrainian citizen living in exile in Kyiv, is still fighting for Ukrainian independence. In the opening days of the war, he fought at the front, and he says he’s “still under active contract with the Ukrainian military.” He started an operating from Kyiv that aims to counter Russian propaganda.
