The Russian opposition in the United States is closing ranks after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race. The House of Free Russians has opened in Washington, near the Capitol. Some of Putin’s opponents are also expected to come to Warsaw soon. As it’s often the case with such movements in Russia, power struggles are underway within the heterogeneous opposition. How and whether will they manage to come to an agreement among themselves, and with the new US administration? They will undoubtedly seek Uncle Sam’s support to overthrow the regime in the Kremlin. 

Russian opposition is divided… as always 

A conflict between the leaders of the anti-Putin opposition broke out recently during a closed meeting of the so-called Congress of People’s Deputies in Warsaw. It was even a fight out there. The attacked person was Vladimir Ponomariov – the father of former deputy to the Russian Duma Ilia Ponomariov. 

What happened in Poland is known only from the side of his son, Ilia Ponomariov. As he told PostPravda, there was an attempt to take over the Congress of People’s Deputies in Poland, the idea which was created by Ilia Ponomariov himself. According to him, this attempt was organized by the Russian oligarch Leonid Nevzlin, also an oppositionist to Putin, who fled to Israel in 2022 and is doing business there. – The action was a failure – reports Ponomariov. 

– Nevzlin has been trying to discredit as many opposition movements as possible for some time now, probably counting on his own benefits from this chaos. The last attempt also did not bring success, because the turnout at the meeting was very low. I believe that after the official meeting of the Congress of People’s Deputies, which will be held in Warsaw soon, we will simply move on. It is always sad when the Russian opposition tries to act and a scandal comes out of it, as was the case here. Unfortunately, this is the reality of Russian political life in opposition. It has always been like this. We are trying to fix it, but as you can see, we still have a long way to go, Ilia Ponomariov tells PostPravda.  

Together with other members of the Russian opposition, he is co-founding the so-called Free Peoples of Russia House in Washington. The institution has only just been established, and its first meeting took place on November 5, 2024. The Russian opposition was jointly following the election results in the United States. 

Russian opposition creates The Free Peoples of Russia House 

The founding members and top management of the Free Peoples of Russia House in Washington include: former deputy of the Russian Duma Arkady Yankovsky, former journalist of Radio Liberty Alexei Sobchenko and former head of the independent Russian television NTV Alexander Gerasimov, as well as the aforementioned politician, presenting himself as one of the leaders of the Russian military units fighting for Ukraine – Ilya Ponomariov.  

Arkady Yankovsky is a former member of the State Duma, representing Novosibirsk on behalf of the Liberal Party. Yankovsky serves as ambassador of the Congress of People’s Deputies to the United States, as well as ambassador of the so-called Free Republic of Russia. The director of the house is Alexei Sobchenko, who for many years worked in the US Department of State, and previously at Radio Free Europe. Sobchenko is considered as a Russian intellectual. He is responsible for the functioning of the House of Free Russians in Washington. 

Another key figure for this new institution is Alexander Gerasimov, one of the founders and for some time editor-in-chief of NTV, an independent Russian TV station. NTV was one of the first media outlets in Russia to be targeted by Putin after he took power. “This marked as the beginning of the Russian president’s offensive against free media and was an important step towards dismantling democracy in Russia,” Ponomaryov explains. 

“Our house is supposed to bring together representatives of the Russian political opposition and various national liberation movements representing the nations and communities inhabiting the modern Russian Federation. The house is located on the Capitol Hill, which is literally about 300 meters from the United States Congress, making it the closest office of an international institution to this cradle of democracy,” our interlocutor says. 

As we learn from him, the main goal of the House of Free Russians is to create a central point of communication between the Russian opposition and American political elites, including members of Congress and representatives of the US presidential administration. 

President Donald Trump, Ukraine and the Russian opposition 

“Many people say that the new US administration could pose a serious problem for Ukraine and some even suggest that the future officials are acting in Putin’s interests. I do not agree with that. I believe that President Donald Trump is acting primarily for America and for himself, but certainly not for Putin” – Ilia Ponomariov comments on the US elections. 

– I believe that the US under his leadership will actively seek a solution to the war in Ukraine, but as is often the case with Americans, they may seek a short-term solution – possibly a temporary or provisional one – but aimed primarily at stopping the hostilities. Could this be dangerous for Ukrainians? Perhaps. It will largely depend on how the Ukrainian political leadership deals with this situation. Therefore, effective communication and showing the new administration that it is not the Ukrainians who are seeking war, but the real aggressor is and always was Moscow will be the main keys. The fact is that it is not particularly difficult to prove, but it will still require some effort – Ponomariov believes. 

In his opinion, Donald Trump has the type of personality that believes that there can only be one “strong man” in the world, and it’s himself. According to the Russian oppositionist, there is a high probability that Trump will eventually come into conflict with Putin. 

However, as he adds, the future US administration has repeatedly emphasized during the election campaign that their priority will be economic competition with China. – The reality is that China is already the biggest beneficiary of the war between Russia and Ukraine and will benefit even more from it. If Putin wins, NATO will be weakened, and if Russia is weakened, China will gain more access to natural resources, e.g. Siberia – and according to Ponomariov, this may harm the interests of the United States. 

So what is the solution? As Ponomariov says, the only scenario in which China actually loses something is a change of regime in Russia and the taking over of power by a government that will bring the country closer to the West, instead of remaining a satellite of China, as is currently the case under Putin’s rule. 

– I believe that the new administration in Washington will quickly come to this conclusion, because they have repeatedly emphasized that separating Russia from China is one of their priorities. So I am cautiously optimistic about the future. I realize that it will require a lot of work, skillful diplomacy and clear communication. These are the reasons why we opened the House of Free Russians in Washington. Precisely to create a platform for such activities – explains Ponomariov. 

Soon, the congress of the Russian opposition, members of the so-called Congress of People’s Deputies, is to be held in Warsaw, between November 24 and 26, 2024.