Russia puts out arrest warrant for the only Duma deputy who voted against Crimea

Federal investigators have launched a criminal case against Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who’s suspected of embezzling funds from the Skolkovo Innovation Center. Ponomarev, one of the Duma’s only members active in the anti-Kremlin opposition and the only deputy to vote against Russia’s absorption of Crimea, has been living in the United States for the past several months.

According to Russian police, Ponomarev helped Skolkovo’s vice president, Alexey Beltyukov, embezzle more than 22 million rubles (about $400,000). (Beltyukov has also fled Russia.)

“Because Ponomarev is currently outside the Russian Federation, investigators plan to place him on the international wanted list, in order to extradite him and bring him before the Russian justice system. We’re also taking steps to recover the damages resulting from this crime,” said Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin.

The Skolkovo Innovation Center is a state-supported high-tech business center outside Moscow that contracted Ponomarev to oversee various research projects and give a series of lectures.

Ilya Ponomarev currently resides in the United States. In August 2013, a court ruled that he owes 2.7 million rubles (about $50,000) in unpaid taxes. In early April 2015, the Duma granted the Attorney General’s request to strip Ponomarev of his immunity as a sitting member of the parliament.

In April 2013, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against Skolkovo’s vice president, Alexey Beltyukov, saying he hired Ponomarev to write a series of papers and give several lectures as a coverup for embezzling funds from the institute. Ponomarev was hired for $750,000, investigators say, though he only received $300,000. Ponomarev says the discrepancy between the contracted salary and his earnings is due to organizational expenses for his lectures and research costs for his reports.