Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed, on Monday, to dismiss Former Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya from her post for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
Poklonskaya, who served as Russian Ambassador to Cabo Verde from October 2021, was appointed Rossotrudnichestvo deputy chief in early February.
On her Telegram channel, Poklonskaya said that she would be "moving to another job" and thanked the president for his "support and trust."
The dismissal comes after the former lawmaker condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “catastrophe.”
“People are dying, houses and entire cities are destroyed [leaving] millions of refugees. Bodies and souls are mutilated. My heart is bursting with pain,” she said in a video address to an international forum in April. “My two native countries are killing each other, that’s not what I wanted and it’s not what I want.”
Her comments sparked outrage from fellow officials, including her boss, Rossotrudnichestvo chief Yevgeny Primakov. He later claimed that the letter Z was a symbol of the “liberation of Ukraine from the obvious evil of terrorists and bandits.”
Last April, Lithuania’s parliament voted to ban public displays of the letter “Z”, the black and orange ribbon of St George, and other symbols that express support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In reference to an earlier ban on public displays of Soviet and Nazi symbols, Lithuania added a provision for “the symbols of totalitarian or authoritarian regimes used in the past or currently use to promote military aggression, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed or perpetrated by them.”
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