Tom Ball (news reporter): A shadow parliament of former Russian MPs argues that regime change will be achieved only by force
A “shadow parliament” of former Russian MPs has called on Nato to support armed resistance within Russia against President Putin’s regime.
More than sixty exiled politicians who once served in the Russian State Duma met in Warsaw this week to discuss a seven-point plan for overthrowing the Kremlin.
The strategy, known as the Victory Plan, comprises appeals to the West for support, including calls for an expansion of the sanctions regime and more weapons for Ukraine. The opposition group, the Congress of People’s Deputies, argues that regime change will be achieved only by force. The plan advocates violent resistance and asserts that it is “no longer an option but simply a duty” of the West to encourage “revolutionary action” within Russia, which Nato leaders have been reluctant to support.
It calls on western leaders to drop their restrictions on attacks carried out within Russia by Ukraine and Russian resistance fighters.
The proposal will be presented at the 75th Nato summit in Washington early next month. The document says: “The Kremlin has already unleashed a massive bloodshed that is killing hundreds of Russians on the front line every day, as well as numerous Ukrainians, both military and civilians.
“Therefore, the use of force against Putin’s murderers, their financiers and propagandists, is morally justified — [when] consistent with the internationally recognised norms of warfare — and imperative for victory.” The congress was set up in November 2022 by MPs opposed to Putin’s regime. It claims to have 106 members, including former MPs and several serving MPs who participate anonymously. The group has tried to position itself as the legitimate face of Russia’s fractured opposition movement.
It acts as the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a military force made up of four battalions of soldiers fighting for Ukraine, and the National Republican Army (NRA), a shadowy network of partisans operating inside Russia
The congress has a written constitution and is developing new laws for a postPutin Russia broadly based on the principles of social democracy. Among the first measures it proposes is the dismantling of the FSB, the internal security service and successor to the KGB.
Its advocacy of violence and its members’ former associations with the Russian political system have led to scepticism and disapproval among other opposition factions. During a four-day conference in Warsaw, Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Duma who is now on the congress’s executive committee, said that toppling Putin was the only way to end the war in Ukraine. He claimed the NRA could call upon thousands of partisans in Russia to take up arms. The NRA has claimed responsibility for the assassination of Vladlen Tatarsky, a Russian military blogger, in St Petersburg last year, and Darya Dugina, daughter of the political philosopher Alexander Dugin, who died when her car exploded near Moscow in 2022.
Neither claim has been verified and the NRA, which has aroused some suspicion, has provided no evidence. Russian commentators blamed Ukraine for the attacks, which it denies.
Ponomarev, who describes himself as c-oordinator of the Legion and the NRA’s joint political centre, said the paramilitary group worked closely with the Ukrainian intelligence services on operations inside Russia, including drone attacks on oil depots and the sabotage of railway lines.
He said the West had so far responded “very negatively” to the group’s activities and refused to support any attacks on Russian soil. Ponomarev, 48, said: “We have strict prohibitions to use any western equipment for operations in Russia. It’s an outright prohibition. “Even when western equipment is not involved, the US for example has discouraged the Ukrainians from helping us with any kind of operation which involves any kind of attack on the leaders of the regime.
“What we are asking for is for the removal of restrictions on attacks on military infrastructure and combatants in Russia and to allow Ukrainian military command to decide the priorities.”
A left-wing member of Russia’s parliament, Ponomarev was the only MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Kremlin barred him from returning to Russia from America so he moved to Ukraine in 2016 and became a citizen in 2019.
His support for the use of violence against the regime sets him at odds with other opposition leaders, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the late Alexei Navalny. Ponomarev acknowledged Navalny as a “hero” but they were not allies. He questioned Navalny’s suitability for the role of president, and the pair argued over the political structure of a free future Russia.
While disavowing “terrorist methods” and any violence towards civilians, Ponomarev argued that attacks on those close to the seat of power would weaken the loyalty of the elites to Putin.
“I consider everybody connected to the war machine — government ohcials who organise or finance the war, businessmen who produce arms, propaganda warmongers, as well as military or security personnel — as combatants,” he said. “And they are legitimate targets for both Ukrainian military and Russian resistance fighters.”