The star of the “Russian Spring” in golden exile in Cape Verde

It is certainly not Saint Helena, or Siberia, but difficult to see there better than a golden exile. On Wednesday October 13, an oukaze of the Russian president, Vladimir Poutine, confirmed the rumor which had been circulating since the end of the summer: the appointment of Natalia Poklonskaya to the post of extraordinary ambassador and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Cape Verde , 600 kilometers from the west coast of Africa.

Curious conclusion – or parenthesis – for the career of the one who remains one of the very rare stars of the Russian political scene. Especially since Mme Poklonskaya, 41, still recently showed his intention to stay in the Duma for a second term as a deputy or, failing that, to resume her post as Crimean prosecutor general.

The fate of this extraordinary politician will remain inexorably associated with that of the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in March 2014. Natalia Poklonskaya stood out precisely at this time: her main feat of arms was to have sided with Moscow at the beginning of the Russian intervention on the peninsula, when she was a simple prosecutor.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers One hundred years after the Russian revolution, the tsarist nostalgia of orthodox extremists

She is rewarded by being appointed Prosecutor General of Crimea. Above all, the media around the world make her a star, and the emblem of the “Russian Spring”, the term for the euphoria that followed in Russia the “Attachment” of Crimea. In Japan or Korea, she becomes a characteranime, drawn under dozens of avatars which often pay more homage to its plastic design than to its career.

“Orthodox Taliban”

Logical continuation, it is presented by the party in power, United Russia, for the legislative elections of 2016. Now federal deputy, Natalia Poklonskaya is noted this time for her ultranationalist, monarchist and religious positions. She claims to have seen a bust of Nicholas II cry, and defends the ban on films “Offensive” tsarism. “Orthodox Taliban”, slice german radio Deutsche Welle.

Read also Russia: “Matilda”, or the birth of an extremist orthodox movement

At the same time, she also demonstrates her independence of mind. In 2018, she was the only Member of Parliament from United Russia to vote against pension reform. As a punishment, his commission positions were taken away from him. She also criticizes the functioning of Russian justice. Later, during the Covid-19 pandemic, she does not hesitate, supreme taboo, to declare on the radio that the hospitals of Crimea are in a state ” even worse “ that under the Ukraine, with which it advocates… a rapprochement.

In the summer of 2021, she announced that she wanted to be a Member of Parliament again, then gave up, saying that she was offered another more interesting position. The newspaper RBK, well informed, observes that his ambitions disturb as much in Simferopol, capital of the Crimea, as in Moscow. She suddenly says she is interested in diplomacy.

You have 12.25% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.

source site