Volunteer Russian fighters fighting their compatriots in Ukraine may be the vanguard of a future revolution to overthrow Vladimir Putin, according to the prominent Russian opposition leader.
Ilya Ponomarev — a member of Russia’s parliament from 2007 to 2016 and the only MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014 — told Newsweek that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine set the stage for a “new Russian revolution.”
The 47-year-old, who lives in exile in Kyiv, has presented himself since the summer as spokesman for the “National Republican Army” (NRA), an underground group that wants to overthrow the Russian head of state by force and is responsible for the attack on the war supporter Darja Dugina should be responsible.
“In our situation, a violent and armed protest is inevitable. I don’t think it will work without armed resistance,” Ponomaryov told the US magazine.
And further: “That’s why we are preparing for it, and that’s why we are now in Ukraine preparing military elements with Russians fighting alongside the Ukrainian army on the front lines… they are ready to go to Russia at the crucial moment .”
According to Ponomarev, around 4,000 Russian nationals served in the Ukrainian armed forces, including several hundred members of Russian volunteer regiments.
“I’m not only in contact with them, I’m very actively involved,” Ponomarev said of the alleged saboteurs. “At the moment there are several hundred of them on the front lines. But in the preparation pipeline we’re talking about thousands.”
So there is not only the NRA. “I am also very active in talking to others. There is a group called ‘Black Bridge’, there is a group called ‘Militant Organization of Anarcho-Communists’, there are right-wing groups in Russia and we are in contact with many of them,” said the exiled politician.
Russia is not yet on the verge of a revolution, said the 47-year-old, but is not far away: “I think it will happen next year”. Putin has “very radicalized society, and that’s why I predicted in March that his birthday on October 7 would be his last,” the former Duma deputy said. “I stand by that.”
