Guerrilla groups overthrow Putin?
Opposition leader Ponomarev sees "revolution" approaching
Created: 10/22/2022, 5:24 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
The Russian State Duma expelled Russian opposition MP Ilya Ponomarev in 2016.
Today he lives in exile (archive photo).
© picture alliance / dpa |
Yuri Kochetkov
According to former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, several guerrilla groups are operating in Russia that are trying to overthrow Putin.
The Russian Ilya Ponomarev is known to the public for two things in particular: in 2014 he was the only Russian MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea - and during the Ukraine war, after the murder of the right-wing political scientist Darya Dugina, he announced that a guerrilla movement called the "National Republican Army" was behind it.
In a conversation with the US online newspaper
Newsweek
, he now emphasized that Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday was also his last.
Former State Duma deputy speaks of several Russian guerrilla groups
Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ponomarev joined the Ukrainian armed forces, but he did not want this to be seen as a fight against his fatherland, but as a fight against Putin.
In August, the Russian exile announced that a partisan movement called the National Republican Army (NRA) was responsible for the murder of the daughter of right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
“This attack opens a new page in Russian resistance to Putinism.
A new one - but not the last," said the Russian living in Ukraine at the time.
It was doubted whether the authorship could actually lie with this previously unknown organization or whether it even existed.
Ponomaryov told the US newspaper
Newsweek
in an interview published on Thursday that the NRA is not the only guerrilla group operating in Russia.
As further examples he named "Black Bridge" or the "Militant Organization of Anarcho-Communists" - there are also right-wing groups in Russia, one is in contact with "many" of these groups.
These are so-called grassroots organizations, and about half of all attacks in Russia take place “without coordination”.
"There are certain principles and people come to them to be part of something, but many people just do their attacks on their own without any coordination," said the exiled Russian.
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According to the Russian politician in exile, up to 4,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in the Ukrainian ranks
Numerous volunteer Russian fighters in Ukraine are already preparing to help overthrow the Russian president, Ponomaryov told the US magazine.
This could be the "vanguard of a future revolution," he believes.
The fighters are ready "to go to Russia at the crucial moment".
4000 Russian nationals would serve in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Hundreds of them are dedicated members of Russian volunteer armies.
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"I'm not only in contact with them, I'm very actively involved," says Ponomarev.
“At the moment there are several hundred at the front.
But in the preparation pipeline we are talking about thousands.” Every day there are several attacks in Russia against military posts, acts of sabotage on railways or hacking attacks on the most critical parts of government data, the opposition figure continued.
At the end of August, Ponomaryov appeared before the press together with soldiers of the "Freedom of Russia" legion.
They then signed a declaration on cooperation and coordination of actions between Russian volunteer units fighting on the side of Ukraine against the Russian army.
The most prominent fighter in their ranks is probably the former deputy head of Gazprombank Igor Volobuyev.
Irpin, Ukraine August 31, 2022: Ilya Ponomarev (right) and soldiers of the Russian Freedom of Russia Legion speak to reporters.
© IMAGO/Oleksii Chumachenko / ZUMA Wire
Russian opposition figure predicts revolution in Russia next year
Although Russia is not yet on the verge of a revolution, former Duma deputy Ponomarev believes it is not far off.
"I think it will happen next year," said the politician fighting in Ukraine.
"He [Putin] radicalized society very much, and that's why I predicted in March that his birthday on October 7 would be his last," he said.
"I didn't think he would invade Ukraine and put himself in such mortal danger.
When it started on February 24, I said that the final countdown had begun.” Putin's fall, if it comes, will be remembered as self-inflicted.
The former Duma deputy hopes for a democratic system in Russia.
The current elites surrounding Putin should not be part of the new Russia.
The country has to be rebuilt from scratch, believes the exiled former politician.
"We must recreate Russia."
Ponomarev was expelled from the State Duma in 2016.
Among other things, Moscow accused the politician of embezzlement. He considered these allegations to be politically motivated and in 2014 was the only one of 450 State Duma deputies to vote against the incorporation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea into Russian territory.
Ponomaryov was one of the organizers of the largest protests in recent Russian history in 2011 - and has probably been a thorn in Putin's side for a long time.
At that time, hundreds of thousands of Russians called for the head of government to resign with the slogan “Russia without Putin”.
(bme with dpa material).