LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Former Russian MP Ilia Ponomariov, an opponent of Vladimir Putin exiled since 2016 in Ukraine, is being investigated in Russia for “spreading false information” about the Russian army, reports the TASS news agency, citing a Moscow court.
Investigators have asked for his “arrest in absentia”, which exposes him to detention if he returns to Russia.
Under a law passed eight days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, the “public dissemination of deliberately false information” about the armed forces is punishable by a fine or, in in the most serious cases, a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
A Moscow district councilor, Alexe Gorinov, was sentenced to seven years in prison in July for the offence.
Two other opposition figures, Ilia Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Mourza, are in pre-trial detention for similar cases.
Ilia Ponomariov was the only one of 450 members of the lower house of parliament, the Duma, to vote against the annexation of Crime to Ukraine in 2014. (Report Mark Trevelyan; French version Elitsa Gadeva, told by Sophie Louet)