Russian opposition activist Ponomarev claims Russian National Republican Army killed Dugina

nv.ua: Ponomarev said the organization had authorized him to read out its manifesto. The first sentence reads “We, Russian activists, military servicemen and politicians, now partisans and fighters of the National Republican Army, (will) outlaw the warmongers, robbers and oppressors of the peoples of Russia.”

Ponomarev spoke about the National Republican Army in an interview with Radio NV on Aug. 22.

NV: The Rospartizan Telegram messenger will be the only source of official messages from units of the National Republican Army operating on the territory of Russia. What do you know about the National Republican Army?

Ponomarev: This is an activist network on the territory of Russia. I don’t know how many there are, but I believe that there are not less than 1,000 people.

It’s a real network – no hierarchy, no bosses, no centralization. It is underground – the issue of security is very important there. We made contact with it sometime in April.

Then they sent us various messages about the arson of military recruiting offices, various attacks on volunteers who raised money for the war, those who supported the war, police officers, etc. Our contacts gradually improved.

About a week ago, they told us that something was going to happen. On Aug. 20, they warned us about an action, but we didn’t know what it would be. Later, when all this had already happened, they sent certain photos to prove their involvement, and also gave us the manifesto that I have made public.

NV: Was Daria Dugina, the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, the target of the action? Or did they want to kill the pseudo-philosopher?

Ponomarev: As far as I understand, they wanted and tried to (kill) both of them, but apparently the Lord decided otherwise.

NV: What makes you confident that this information can be trusted? You understand that this could be an FSB operation, it could be a network (set up by the FSB) to identify people who actually want to join such a resistance movement. Why do you think this information can be trusted?

Ponomarev: I believe it 100%, because these people were involved in the attack, because I saw photos that could not have been taken in any other way.

If you assume that the murder of Dugina was carried out by the FSB, I believe this is a conspiracy. But we can endlessly invent any conspiracy for ourselves.

NV: The FSB reported they had already solved this murder: they suspect Ukrainian citizen Natalia Vovk, born in 1979, and her daughter Sofia Shaban, born in 2010. She is 12 now. A 12-year-old child apparently killed Daria Dugina. They claim this crime was prepared and committed by Ukrainian special services. Are we getting it right that Russia, the FSB, law enforcement agencies will never recognize the existence of the National Republican Army?

Ponomarev: It will be very unbeneficial for them, because it means signing up to the fact that they don’t control the situation in the country. They don’t like the Ukrainian special services either. At first they started saying these were the British, something like that. Let it be Ukrainians, but not guerrillas. This is a 100% understandable policy. Vovk has nothing to do with this attack. It’s not her who did it.

NV: There was information about the Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists. These are people in Russia who have claimed responsibility for preventing military trains from going to Ukraine. Our colleagues from The Insider spoke with members of this organization. Are these related things? Are they two separate organizations?

Ponomarev: We even helped them to contact, i.e. The Insider with the Anarcho-Communists. These are real people, just another network.

NV: Ukrainians don’t really believe there is an armed Russian resistance. ... Dugina called for the destruction of Ukrainians. She personally visited the bombed-out and occupied Mariupol, Azovstal. She filmed a video, and said that “Nazis were here.” But if there is already a violent resistance, what can be predicted next? What do you expect to see?

Ponomarev: I believe this resistance will grow, greater in scope, new attacks will take place. This is exactly what I’ve said many times: there’s no longer a path for non-violent protest, only armed protest can achieve any results.

Now it’s just young people who are starting it, but the circle will expand and new people will join the ranks of this movement.

NV: What exactly did the murder of this Daria Dugina change? What did it demonstrate?

Ponomarev: The Russian elite has no protection against such attacks, this is the main thing. This is what they’re now talking about in Rublyovka (the most expensive residential area outside Moscow).

The main thing is that Russian leaders, government employees, well-known businessmen must understand that it’s impossible to sit on the fence. That they have to decide whether they’re with Putin or against him. They cannot be neutral because someone will come for them. I believe this is the main thing in this case.

NV: You’ve hinted in several of your interviews that there’s a politician in Putin’s inner circle who has been in contact with the West about the need to stop the war. We’ve seen that Putin made everyone to seal a blood oath. All the officials, everyone in Putin’s entourage, everyone who matters, had to write something about the need to destroy the Ukrainians, Ukraine, Nazis, fascists, etc. What do you think, could there be indulgences for Putin’s inner circle if one of them cooperates? Can you imagine it?

Ponomarev: I believe 100% this is how it will happen. But now the process of people seeking asylum is still underway. Many people already understand (Russia is at) a dead-end. They want to jump off this sinking ship, they’re trying to find contacts in the West, in Ukraine.

But I believe it will all be different soon. These guerrilla attacks will push the Russian elite toward the need to do something. Because asylum can be given to one person, 10 people, but it’s impossible to give it to a wide range of people – they just have to destroy Putin and this regime. That’s why I think it’s all very useful.

NV: So far, this regime looks like a monolith from the outside... (Russian dictator Vladimir Putin) continues to make demands for peace talks, as always: “denazification,” “demilitarization.” Does Putin actually have a real picture of what is happening in Ukraine?

Ponomarev: I don’t know. I believe he understands more or less partially. But what can he do about it? He just needs to win, because there’s no other way for him. And other people who are now part of his inner circle have such a path,not all of them, but some people do. And they want to live after Putin, so it’s a matter of life and death for them.

NV: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with (his Russian counterpart) Sergey Lavrov in Istanbul. Later he (Kuleba) said that he understood that Lavrov believes in “neo-Nazis,” “fascist Kyiv regime,” etc. As for Putin, we also see that even when he’s talking to (French President Emmanuel) Macron, he believes there was a coup d'état (in Ukraine). Maybe he can talk about the coup d'état, talking about (former Ukrainian President Viktor) Yanukovych. But it’s hard to imagine that there was a coup d'état when the actor and TV comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the president. It seems that somehow these... high-ranking (Russian) officials believe in the delusion broadcast to them by (their own) propaganda. Do you have an explanation for this?

Ponomarev: I believe that Putin really believes in all these fairy tales about “Nazis,” etc. Any person wants to be good, wants to feel that he/she is on the right side of history, doing something right. Of course, Putin proved it to himself. But we understand these are fairy tales. I believe that it’s the ones whofeed Putin this pseudo-history who are the criminals.