"People's Mayor" of Sloviansk At a time of turbulence in Ukraine following the
Euromaidan victory, and then protests in the country's eastern
Donbas, Ponomarev emerged from apparent obscurity, having owned a soap production company, declaring himself mayor after
leading an assault on the Sloviansk mayor's office on 14 April 2014, as part of the
2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. Ponamarev was a strong opponent of
the government of Ukraine that formed in Kyiv after the
Revolution of Dignity, referring to it as "
fascist" and claiming Ukraine was being run by "
Nazis" and "
homosexuals". He is a veteran of the
Soviet–Afghan War and served in a special operations unit of the Arctic-based
Northern Fleet.
Detentions and disappearances Ponomarev's tenure as "people's mayor" was noted for a string of detentions. Ponomarev is known to have been personally involved in the following: • On 25 April 2014, a vehicle with representatives from the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was stopped and the observers
detained by Ponomarev's men. • His men held the elected mayor of Sloviansk,
Nelya Shtepa, in captivity, though Ponomarev said that his government was protecting her from Ukrainian law enforcement after the
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened a case against her for
separatism. who declared after his release that he had been intimidated and beaten during his detention. According to the journalist, Ponomarev's men had his photo and were looking for him. According to Ponomarev, Ostrovsky has dual citizenship and was a spy. In an interview to
Gazeta.Ru on 23 April, Ponomarev acknowledged that he had kept Ostrovsky for exchange. Ostrovsky was released only after the intervention of OSCE representatives and the
United States Department of State. Ponomarev told the media that Ostrovsky was not a hostage, but a "guest", and that he simply "accommodated Ostrovsky with lodging". Ponomarev later declared that kidnapping of people is a retaliation for all his detained "comrades". ==Later life==