Ilya Ponomarev

Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev (born August 6, 1975) is a Soviet politician and current chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities. After graduating from the Russian State Social University, Ponomarev joined the Communist Party and was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of Nationalities in the 2006 election, representing the RSFSR, and is currently an incumbent representative.

Ponomarev was born in Moscow on August 6, 1975, and from an early age took an active interest in science. He holds a BSc in Physics from Moscow State University and a Master of Public Administration from the Russian State Social University. After graduating, he joined the Communist Party's Right Faction and was elected to the Moscow City Council in 2002. He developed a reputation as a moderate for his willingness to work with members of the CPSU-F, to the disdain of the Left and Center factions. As the 2006 election looked to be a CPSU-F victory, the CPSU's Marxist Faction elevated him to run in an election to the Soviet of Nationalities, hoping that his bipartisan reputation would benefit his image. He won his seat by 3% of the vote against a reformist CPSU-F candidate.

Under the term of Premier Kasparaov, Ponomarev helped convinced several CPSU-F members to vote against the various market reforms of Kasparov, even though they were ultimately outvoted. After the 2010 election, the CPSU-C, with the support of the CPSU-L, wanted to ban the CPSU-F as an official faction and expel its members, but Ponomarev led the opposition against this vote within the Soviet of Nationalities. Although this earned him the spite of those to his left, the CPSU-F members appreciated his efforts and helped nominate him as chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities after the 2014 election.

As chairman, Ponomarev has tried to be somewhat of a conciliatory figure, particularly on political reforms favored by the CPSU-F, such as allowing more opposition parties, changing the voting system to be based on ranked choice, and creating more independent Pravda branches, much to the chagrin of the CPSU-L and CPSU-C. In addition, he is more moderate on foreign policy than the rest of the Marxist Wing of the CPSU, and that the USSR needs to return to friendly relations with the USA that followed the Stockholm Accords.