Ponomarev is a well-known domestic politician. He was a deputy of the State Duma of two convocations, was a member of the faction of the Just Russia party, as well as in the Left Front movement. In 2014, during the discussion of the draft law on the annexation of Crimea to Russia, he was the only deputy who voted against. A few months after such a demarche, he left for the United States, where he spent the next two years.
In April 2015, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded the arrest of Ponamarev in the case of embezzlement of the Skolkovo Innovation Fund. The State Duma deprived him of his parliamentary immunity, after which the Investigative Committee began to seek the extradition of the politician to Russia. He was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list. In the summer of 2016, he received a residence permit in Ukraine, is currently in Kyiv, is engaged, according to his own statements, in attracting investments inRepublic.
Biography of the politician
Ilya Ponomarev was born in Moscow in 1975. He started working at the age of 14. His father got him a job at the Institute for Safety Problems in the Development of Nuclear Energy, where he worked himself. He trained employees in computer technology, supported the performance of a fleet of personal computers.
In 1991, when he was only 16 years old, Ilya Ponomarev starts his own business. He opens a company called "Russprofi LTD", in which he becomes the general director. His firm is engaged in the implementation of trading transactions on the commodity exchange, as well as in the provision of services in the field of programming, maintenance of personal computers and their supplies.
The company developed a system of psychological professional diagnostics, which in the future became the standard in civil aviation and law enforcement agencies when hiring employees.
Education
Ilya Ponomarev himself in 1992 enters the Faculty of Physics at Moscow State University. However, he never received a higher education, because he dropped out of school. Already in 2007, while working at the Ministry of Communications, he graduated from the Russian State Social University with a degree in State and Municipal Administration. Thus, higher education in the biography of Ilya Ponomarev first appeared at the age of 35.
Yukos
After working in his own business structures, Ponomarev switched to cooperation withoil company Yukos. Since 1998, he has served as Chief Information Officer. And already in 1999 he became vice-president of the Siberian Internet Company.
After the sale of his business, Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev becomes vice president of the IBS IT holding, starting to manage relations with government agencies and the development of strategic directions. The main tasks that he faced in this post were to implement projects within the framework of the federal program "Electronic Russia", develop the holding's networks, build cooperation with regional administrations.
Skolkovo Foundation
Ponomarev's collaboration with the Skolkovo Foundation began in 2010, when he was officially appointed advisor to the Foundation's president, Viktor Vekselberg. In this position, he was tasked with technology commercialization and international development. It was this cooperation that formed the basis of the criminal case that was initiated against the fugitive ex-deputy of the State Duma Ilya Ponomarev.
It was noted that 22 million rubles were allocated for the implementation of these works, as well as for giving lectures. By that time, Ponomarev himself had not yet completed higher education.
For the first time this scandal became known in 2013, when the politician Ilya Ponomarev himself began to investigate the circumstances of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's doctorate. In response, the LDPR leader accused him of using$750,000 received from the Skolkovo Foundation to fund protests on Bolotnaya Square in 2011 and 2012.
Initiation of a criminal case
As a result, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case due to embezzlement against Skolkovo Vice President Alexei Beltyukov, who concluded an agreement with Ponomarev.
The Fund's management itself filed a civil lawsuit, in which they demanded the return of 9 million rubles paid to the deputy, citing the fact that out of 10 planned lectures, they had read only one. The Gagarin court satisfied the claim in part, obliging Ponomarev to return 2.7 million rubles. When the politician did not voluntarily comply with the court decision, the bailiffs began to seize his property. Since then, he himself has not taken part in the meetings of the State Duma, having gone abroad.
In April 2015, the federal parliament stripped Ponomarev of his parliamentary immunity. 438 deputies voted in favor, only one opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov was against. In June, a criminal case was officially opened against him for complicity in embezzlement. At the same time, it became known that the hero of our article was deprived of his deputy status for the systematic failure to fulfill his duties.
Political activities
In politics, Ponomarev is primarily known as one of the founders of the "Left Front", an active participant in social and protest movements in the country. At first he was a member of the Communist Party, but in 2006 he leftparties to participate in elections to the State Duma. He managed to get into the federal parliament in December 2007 from the Novosibirsk region as a member of A Just Russia. In the Duma, he was a member of the committee on technology and information policy, developing bills in the field of innovation. In 2011, he was re-elected to the sixth convocation of the State Duma.
Participation in protest rallies
Ilya Ponomarev became widely known in Moscow because of the protest rallies that began after the elections to the State Duma. He was one of the organizers of mass actions in the Russian capital. In early 2012, he became one of the leaders of the Civil Movement, which became the focal point for all protest forces. In May, Ud altsov and Navalny supported his idea to form a coalition protest headquarters of 12 people.
In the summer of 2012, he went on a rally across the country, called "White Stream". Within its framework, he campaigned for participation in the elections to the Opposition Coalition Council. However, in the end, the principle of its formation was changed. Ponomarev did not like the new scheme, a week before the vote he withdrew his candidacy, for which he was criticized by many former supporters.
Exit from A Just Russia
In the spring of 2013, he officially suspended his membership in A Just Russia, protesting against the expulsion of his colleague Dmitry Gudkov from the party. At the next party congress, he officially announced thatvoluntarily leaves the party. In early 2014, he took part in the election of the mayor of Novosibirsk. Ponomarev became a candidate from the Social Democrats and the Green Alliance party. However, at the last moment he withdrew his candidacy from the vote, this happened 10 days before the elections themselves.
When in March 2014 the State Duma considered the issue of joining Crimea to the Russian Federation, he was the only member of parliament who voted against. Thus, he did not support the ratification of the agreement on the admission of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. A month later, the leader of the Just Russia party, Sergei Mironov, from which Ponomarev was elected to the State Duma, demanded that he surrender his deputy mandate. Mironov considered that by his act the hero of our article caused reputational damage to the party.
Private life
In the family, Ilya Ponomarev grew up as an only child. His father, whose name was Vladimir Nikolaevich, is a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, a professor. He is currently Vice President of the Association of Builders of Russia. Prior to that, he worked in the federal structures of Gosstroy, participated in the development of the domestic system of mortgage lending. In the early 2010s, he was an independent member of the Board of Directors of INFRA Engineering Closed Joint Stock Company.
The politician's mother, Larina Nikolaevna, was a senator until 2013. She was a member of the Federation Council from the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Served as First Deputy on the Committee forsocial policy.
Among the ancestors of the hero of our article, there are many prominent and famous personalities. One of his grandfathers was a prominent party and Komsomol worker. Nikolai Pavlovich, that was his name, worked as a railway engineer, participated in the Great Patriotic War. In the late 70s, he was the first secretary of the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Poland, one of the mediators during negotiations with the Solidarity movement.
Ilya Vladimirovich's great-uncle, Vladimir Pavlovich, designed the North Caucasian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Mainline.
Ponomarev himself is married. His wife's name is Ekaterina, she is a year older than the politician. In 1995, their son Nikolai was born in their family, and in 2000, their daughter Anastasia.
Where is Ilya Ponomarev now
At the moment, the politician is in Ukraine, he lives permanently in Kyiv. The Ukrainian authorities issued him a temporary residence permit in the country, about which the ex-deputy himself spoke on his social networks. Prior to that, he was in the United States for two years. He was active in the community there. For example, he presented a report on the political climate in the country at a conference dedicated to the Russian opposition, and he also talked about possible scenarios for regime change in the country.
As noted by the Voice of America radio station, Ponomarev campaigned to expand anti-Russian sanctions, spoke in favor of introducing an absolute ban on the entry of Russian officials to Western countries. And also offered to providemilitary support for Ukraine. Shortly before his departure from the United States to this country, he created a company in New York, which, according to him, specializes in investments in various sectors of the national economy of Ukraine.
