Natalya Poklonskaya: Exile for cartoon heroine who dared to defy Putin

Natalya Poklonskaya’s role in Crimea inspired a Japanese anime character
Natalya Poklonskaya’s role in Crimea inspired a Japanese anime character
ITAR-TASS PHOTO AGENCY/ALAMY

One of President Putin’s MPs has been sent to be Russia’s ambassador to Cape Verde after opposing Kremlin policy and becoming a star in Japan.

Natalya Poklonskaya, 41, angered Putin’s party, United Russia, by being its only member to vote against a five-year increase to the national retirement age in 2018.

The president, 69, has now named her as the new envoy to the Portuguese-speaking archipelago off the western coast of Africa. Russia has no significant interests in the country of just over half a million people.

Poklonskaya gained an unexpected cult following in Japan after inspiring anime and manga art as Crimea’s top prosecutor following the seizure of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, triggering a crisis in relations between Russia and the West.