Iris Polonian is a Russian politician, journalist, and Free-Market Activist currently serving as the Head of Mari El since her election in 2028 where she won by a single vote against incumbent Yury Zaitsev. Previously, she lived in exile under her successful election to the Mari El State Duma in a 2025 by-election.
She founded the Russian Interim Government for Democracy and Longlasting Peace (RIGFDLP) while under exile in Argentina, along with fellow Mari El dissident Lili Samoylenka. Alongside her efforts, she served as a staffer to the 2023 Presidential Campaign of Javier Milei. For a brief period after the Russo-Ukraine war began, she was granted asylum in America.
She was active in several Russian political parties, such as the Party of Business, Yabloko, Civic Platform before officially joining the New People Party in 2021.
Early life[]
Polonian was born September 21, 1991 in La Paz, Bolivia to Russian-Bolivian parents and moved to Russia when she was a year old. She then graduated from Gorchakov Memorial School and graduated from University in Mari State University in 2011, where she earned a degree in Russian History.
Asylum in America and Argentina[]
Upon the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict in 2022, a warrant for Polonian's arrest was issued by the Russian federal government due to making "treasonous and insurrectionary statements." She was granted asylum in the United States in March where she resided in Maryland and New Jersey. She was active in the Green Party and was appointed by GNC Chairman, Thomas Duberry, as Honorary President of the Green Party of Baltimore. She held this role for a few months before resigning.