Former Duma deputy claims Putin advisor was against annexation of Crimea

In an interview with Ukrainian TV channel Hromadska, Former State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov said that Vladislav Surkov, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

According to Voronenkov, as a “clever man”, Surkov was “strongly opposed.”

“The decision to annex [Crimea] was made by one person. All normal people were against it, including those in his inner circle,” said Voronenkov.

Denis Voronenkov was a member of the Russian Duma from 2011 to 2016. He was part of the Communist Party faction. At the end of January 2017, newspaper Kommersant reported that Voronenkov testified against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych before the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s office. Soon after, the Mariinsky Theatre cancelled the performance of of Voronenkov’s wife, opera singer Maria Maksakova.

In Russia, Voronenkov was the focus of a criminal investigation on corporate raid. The Investigative Committee proposed depriving him of his immunity from prosecution, but the Prosecutor General’s office did not support the Investigative Committee.