A Ukrainian official who swapped sides when Russia annexed Crimea has been fired by Vladimir Putin after criticising his war and the ‘Z’ symbol.
Natalia Poklonskaya, dubbed the "Iron Princess of Crimea", was appointed Prosecutor-General of Crimea in 2014 at the age of 33 and then was appointed as a loyalist MP in Moscow.
She was poised to become a Russian ambassador but instead was appointed to Rossotrudnichestvo, the body which seeks to protest the rights of Russians abroad.
Poklonskaya strongly supported the annexation of Crimea, but had called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a “catastrophe".
She openly opposed bombing Kyiv and other major cities and said that the letter “Z, used by the military, symbolised grief and tragedy.
In one impassioned critique of the war, she said: “People are dying, houses and entire cities are destroyed [leaving] millions of refugees.
“Bodies and souls are mutilated. My heart is bursting with pain.
“My two native countries are killing each other, that’s not what I wanted and it’s not what I want.”
She warned that Ukrainians would “would not greet Russia with flowers”, as some senior Kremlin officials believed, and pointed out that Putin’s troops were “dying” in large numbers.
She said the letter Z symbolises tragedy and grief for both Russia and Ukraine.
She warned: “It is dangerous to blindly worship any symbols — history does not like that.”
"All politicians and diplomats who failed to peacefully resolve the conflict and allowed any military operation cannot be called heroes."
Poklonskaya became a popular politician in Russia, opposing Ukraine's entry into the European Union.
She is wanted in Ukraine on treason charges, according to Ukrayinska Pravda.
Despite being axed from a job she took up in February she was sure that Russian President Vladimir Putin would brush aside her strong criticisms and appoint her to another official post.
Poklonskaya said Putin fired her after only four months in her latest role but said her exit is so she can take on a new job.
She said there has been no explicit reason listed in the decree for her dismissal, however, the timing has led many to believe it is connected to her comments on the invasion.
“Vladimir Putin signed a decree on my dismissal from the post of Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo,” she said.
But this was “in connection with my transfer to another job”, she claimed.
Despite all of her criticism, she said: “I am grateful to our President for his support and trust.”
It was later announced that Poklonskaya had been given a new state job - but gagged from criticising Putin’s war.
Poklonskaya was made advisor to the Russian prosecutor general Igor Krasnov.
“I am discontinuing my social media pages and any public activities,” she said.
