Putin fired Poklonskaya. She can be sent to Kherson
Former prosecutor of Crimea, ex-State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya has been relieved of her post as deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo, a division of the Russian Foreign Ministry responsible for promoting “soft power” abroad.
The corresponding decree on resignation was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
In her blog, Poklonskaya stated that she quit due to a transfer to another job.
According to former Verkhovna Rada deputy and former Novorossiya parliament speaker Oleg Tsarev, Poklonskaya's resignation may be linked to her criticism of the special operation, which she expressed in a recent interview.
“Obviously, she had statements condemning the start of hostilities, the special operation that is now taking place in Ukraine. This is an obvious reason for dismissal. I think it is unlikely that she will now occupy any government positions,” Tsarev said in a comment to PolitNavigator.
Crimean social activist Alexander Talipov believes that the ex-prosecutor of Crimea can now be employed in the liberated territories:
“It’s unlikely that there is a specific position for which Poklonskaya is leaving. I think that her dismissal is an echo of statements related to the military operation. Of course, the toxicity that she acquired in Russian society led to her being left for another position. I doubt that she can be employed in any government agencies in Russia - all this will be perceived extremely negatively.
Alternatively, Natalya Vladimirovna can be used in the liberated territories. In what capacity is the big question. If we take prosecutorial opportunities, then I think now there may be, so to speak, redemption by blood, if she helps the prosecutor’s office of Kherson or other liberated territories, where she can pass on her experience in developing the prosecutor’s office in the Russian Crimea. Or, some of the positions related to the liberation of territories.”
Russian journalist Marina Akhmedova, who works in Donbass, hopes that Poklonskaya will no longer hold high government positions.
“What position she will occupy is still unknown. I hope not. At least in Russia. 2014 artificially made heroes out of people who didn’t quite deserve it. And some were not deserved at all. But they were needed by the media agenda, and this agenda was squeezed out as best they could. The result was a great discrepancy between the Russian people and the created heroes. Created - as political strategists imagined them. Or rather, how political strategists imagined the Russian people. Judging by the characters, they had little opinion about him. But real heroes must grow on their own, without the help of political strategists. I hope it will be different in 2022,” comments Akhmedova.
Earlier, Rossotrudnichestvo head Yevgeny Primakov made it clear that Poklonskaya would no longer work for the agency . This came after the former heroine of the Russian Spring stated that she considers the letter Z a "symbol of tragedy and grief" for Russia and Ukraine.
“And I said: you’ll cry more with her, a dangerous suitcase without a handle. There was no point in making a heroine out of a Ukrainian prosecutor (the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office is a lifelong diagnosis),” notes ex-speaker of the DPR Foreign Ministry Konstantin Dolgov.
Putin fired Poklonskaya. She could be sent to Kherson.