Many Russians who oppose Putin, authoritarianism, or the war in Ukraine have chosen to leave Russia. According to statistics published by the Washington Post in February, between 500,000 and one million people have fled since the war broke out.
Mr Ponomarev said: “Discussions about what Russians would say about a regime change are absolutely useless because I think that right now it’s very clear that the majority of the society would praise whatever leader comes to power. If it were our Congress, they would praise our Congress.”
Similarly, Gennady Gudkov, a Russian politician who was described by the Moscow Times in 2012 as “one of parliament’s most vocal and charismatic critics”, is a long-time critic of Putin.
Mr Gudkov, who was also a KGB officer and served in the Duma from 2001 to 2012, hit out at the Russian leader when appearing on February Morning on March 9.
