Ilya Ponomarev

Ilya Ponomarev was a member of State Duma from 2007 to 2016. He was the only member to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and shortly afterward Putin’s government forced him into exile. Mr. Ponomarev, among 93 former MPs, is a member of Congress of People's Deputies, the shadow Russian Parliament that is currently working on legislation of post-Putin Russia, including the new constitution of the country. He lives in Kyiv, joined Ukraine's Territorial Defense on Feb. 24, 2022, and in August 2022 became the political coordinator of the Legion “Freedom of Russia.” Mr. Ponomarev is the author of “Does Putin Have to Die?: The Story of How Russia Becomes a Democracy after Losing to Ukraine.”