EXCLUSIVE: The anti-Putin activist told the Express that there was growing Western support for regime change in Russia
By JOHN VARGA
12:53, Tue, Jul 16, 2024 | UPDATED: 12:57, Tue, Jul 16, 2024
A leading Russian rebel has told the Express that victory in Ukraine can only be achieved by overthrowing Vladimir Putin and his totalitarian regime.
Ilya Ponomarev is a former Russian MP and veteran politician, who was the only Duma deputy to vote against Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Like many Russian opposition activists, he has had to flee his native land and is now residing in Ukraine, where he is helping organise the anti-Putin resistance.
He is a political spokesman for both the Legion of Free Russia - a battalion of Russians fighting for Ukraine - and a network of partisans calling themselves the National Republican Army (NRA).
The former Russian MP also helped set up the Congress of People's Deputies - a shadow parliament consisting of over 100 former politicians - and is a member of its executive council.
He travelled last week to Washington to attend a NATO summit in a bid to drum up support for the Russian rebels and their political agenda.
The anti-Putin activist told The Express that Ukraine's victory and future security could only happen with the total destruction of Putin's regime.
He said that world leaders in private increasingly shared his prognosis, but as yet were unprepared to publicly express their support for regime change.
"The victory is impossible without removing Putin from power and dismantling Putinism as a political system," he explained.
"Restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine is not the ultimate victory if Putin is still in power. That's the position that we are trying to communicate and things are moving because more and more people start to realise that - the question is that they realise it in private off the record but they are not ready to speak about this in public."
Ponomarev says Ukraine fully backs the agenda of the Russian rebels, but is constrained in its support due to its fears of antagonising the West and jeopardising its military aid.
"We don't want Americans to publicly support the regime change in Russia. We want the Western allies to stop obstructing Ukraine from moving in that direction," he said.
"Because we can do a lot more things with Ukraine in developing home front resistance and our troops at the front, you know, and stuff like that.
"Ukrainians psychologically are more than ready for this because they totally understand. But they have to look back at the Americans because they're afraid of losing support from them and losing weapons and financial aid. So we need the West to stop obstructing us."
To date, two pro-Kremlin propagandists have been killed by partisans inside Russia. Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky were both killed in bombings carried out by Russian partisans.
The head of Ukraine's military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov also said in a TV interview that he was aware of several attempts to assassinate Putin recently.