44 Facts About Ilya Ponomarev

Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev is a Russian-Ukrainian politician who was a member of the Russian State Duma from 2007 to 2016.

Ilya Ponomarev was the only member of the State Duma not to vote in favour of the Russian gay propaganda law and to vote against Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

In 2015, while in the United States, Ponomarev was formally charged in Russia with embezzlement, which he called politically motivated.

Ilya Ponomarev holds a BSc in physics from Moscow State University and a Master of Public Administration from the Russian State Social University.

Ilya Ponomarev started his career when he was 14 years old at the Institute for Nuclear Safety, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Ilya Ponomarev was one of the founders of two successful high technology start-ups in Russia, the first one when he was sixteen years old.

In 1995 and 1996, Ilya Ponomarev acted as a representative of the networking software company Banyan Systems in Russia, creating one of the largest distributed networks in Russia for the now-defunct oil company Yukos.

From 2002 to 2007, Ilya Ponomarev served as the chief information officer of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Ilya Ponomarev held the role of vice president at Yukos Oil Company, at the time the largest Russian oil and gas corporation.

Ilya Ponomarev later founded the Siberian Internet Company, which was the origin of prominent Internet projects in Russia such as Gazeta.

Ilya Ponomarev spent time as the Director for Business Development and Marketing for Schlumberger Oilfield Services, and the vice president for strategy, regional development, and government relations at IBS, which was at that time the largest Russian system integration and software consulting company.

In December 2007, Ilya Ponomarev was elected to the State Duma, representing Novosibirsk.

Ilya Ponomarev introduced and secured passage of legalization of limited liability partnerships in Russia, the Net Businesses Act, and tax breaks for technology companies.

Internationally, Ilya Ponomarev advocated a broader "Northern Union" between the nations of Europe, the Americas, and the former USSR, but strongly criticizes the American model of globalization exemplified by the IMF, the WTO and the G8 structures.

Ilya Ponomarev describes his proposals as "social globalism", and is critical of nationalism and clericalism.

Ilya Ponomarev criticized the privatization process in Russia, and blamed its neoliberal architects for the failure to establish a true democracy in Russia.

From 2012 to 2014, Ilya Ponomarev was involved in International Business Development, Commercialization and Technology Transfer for the Skolkovo Foundation, managing the project initiated by Pres.

Ilya Ponomarev was a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, and the Council for National Strategy, and a fellow at the Open Russia foundation.

Ilya Ponomarev chaired the Boards of Trustees of the Institute of Innovation Studies and the Open Projects Foundation.

In 2014, Ilya Ponomarev founded the Institute of Siberia, an analytical center focused on the regional development of Siberia.

Later, Ilya Ponomarev joined other political leaders in a successful challenge to the legislation before the Constitutional Court, overturning some of its provisions.

In June 2012, Ilya Ponomarev made a speech in the Duma in which he called United Russia members "crooks and thieves", a phrase originally used by anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny.

In December 2012, Ilya Ponomarev was the most vocal critic of the Dima Yakovlev Law, which restricted international adoption of Russian orphans.

In 2013, Ilya Ponomarev was the only MP who refused to support the gay propaganda law.

On 20 March 2014, Ilya Ponomarev was the only State Duma member to vote against the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation following its annexation.

In 2012, Ilya Ponomarev supported the Internet Restriction Bill, with the stated purpose of fighting online child pornography and drug sales, introduced by fellow Just Russia parliamentarian Yelena Mizulina.

However, the company ultimately never sold any DPI servers, and Vladimir Ilya Ponomarev resigned from the board to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

In July 2013, Ilya Ponomarev stated during a meeting of the Pirate Party of Russia that his support for Mizulina's bill had been a mistake; he later voted against new initiatives by the Russian government to restrict Internet freedom, and became instrumental in the campaign against the "Russian version of SOPA".

Ilya Ponomarev resurfaced in Moscow three days later, where the website Life News recording him leaving a Moscow courthouse, shouting that he had been abducted and tortured.

Vladimir Burmatov, a United Russia MP, called on Ilya Ponomarev to resign from the State Duma for his association with Razvozzhayev.

Ilya Ponomarev was the only member of the State Duma to vote against annexation of Crimea during the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ilya Ponomarev was the target of public demonization including a huge billboard in the center of Moscow describing him as a "national traitor".

Ilya Ponomarev was threatened with censure and expulsion, but responded that deputies cannot be prosecuted or removed because of the way they vote, and the parliament took no further action regarding the status of Ponomarev as deputy.

Ilya Ponomarev began living in San Jose, California, but since 2016 is a permanent resident of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, effectively in exile.

Russian investigators claimed Ilya Ponomarev had embezzled 22 million rubles earmarked for the Skolkovo technology hub, an accusation Ilya Ponomarev describes as politically motivated.

Ilya Ponomarev told The Daily Beast in April 2016 that he lived in Ukraine's capital Kyiv full-time.

Ilya Ponomarev has been outspoken against what he views as the comfort and complacency of Russians including those privately opposed to Putin.

Ilya Ponomarev has gone so far as to support Kaja Kallas's call for Schengen Area states to cease issuing tourist visas to Russian nationals and restricting the movement to refugees who have fought the regime.

Ilya Ponomarev personally read a statement claiming responsibility for the attack from a hitherto-unknown group calling itself National Republican Army.

Ilya Ponomarev told Meduza that his contacts deny that Vovk directly carried out the attack, while leaving open the possibility that she had some other undisclosed role.

Ilya Ponomarev's account describes the NRA as being "a network" rather than an organization, which consists of clandestine cells that are compartmentalized and autonomous.

Ilya Ponomarev has a son was born on 1995 and and a daughter.

Ilya Ponomarev's mother, Larisa Ponomareva, was an MP in the upper house of Russia's Parliament, the Federation Council, until September 2013, when she was forced to resign following her lone vote against the Dima Yakovlev Law.

Ilya Ponomarev is a nephew of Boris Ilya Ponomarev, Secretary for International Relations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.