A Russian court has put Ilya Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, on the country's international wanted list and issued an arrest warrant for him.
Ponomaryov's lawyer, Maria Bast, told the court in Moscow on July 17 that her client, who is currently in the United States, is ready to return to Russia to answer any questions by interrogators.
Russian investigators say a state-funded technological foundation has paid Ponomaryov $750,000 for lectures, but that he had delivered only brief comments.
Ponomaryov, a member of the A Just Russia party, voted against the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after Russia took control of the Black Sea peninsula.
In April, he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution. He denies wrongdoing and says the case against him is politically motivated.